Fourteen Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a bill this week that would have funded the government and kept it from shutting down at the end of the month.
The move to fund it failed by a vote of 220 to 202.
Three Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the bill, even though they were Democrats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, linked an election integrity bill to the spending bill to try to get Democrats to pass it all at once.
When asked about the SAVE Act in early September, Johnson said, “Members across the conference share the same worry that we do about this. We think that the legitimacy of this election cycle is one of the most important issues, if not the most important problem, that the country is facing right now.”
Johnson talked to the press after the bill failed.
“The play we put on tonight was the right one. It’s the right play for people in the US. He said, “It’s the one they want and deserve.”
He went on, “Right now we have two very important goals. The Congress needs to pay for the government. Congress needs to make sure that our votes are safe, fair, and free. Today’s vote could have done both of those things. It makes me very sad that it didn’t pass.”
Earlier in the day, Donald Trump told Republicans they couldn’t fund the government until the voting integrity bill was passed.
He wrote on Truth Social, “If Republicans do not get the SAVE Act, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way. There must be a vote BEFORE the election, not AFTER the election, when it’s too late. Don’t be stupid, Republicans…”
Democrats say that election theft is already against the law and that the new law would only stop legal voters from turning in their ballots. The election bill would require proof of citizenship before voting.
Reports from Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois said that the SAVE Act would actually make it harder for millions of legal citizens to sign up to vote. People in the US would not be able to register to vote with just a military ID or a tribal ID. Millions of married women and other people who have changed their names would not be able to use their birth records to prove they are citizens.
If lawmakers can’t agree on a funding bill by October 1, the government will shut down.
