How top congressional Republicans navigate an intraparty feud over a proof-of-citizenship voting bill and a looming government shutdown could make or break their future in leadership.
GOP lawmakers and congressional sources told the Washington Examiner that Republican members will be watching closely who among their leaders fights to attach a bill requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration to a stopgap spending measure to avert an Oct. 1 shutdown.
Senate GOP leaders are resisting an effort by hard-line House Republicans to tack on the legislation known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. But that doesn’t mean Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is in the clear.
“Here's my issue: I don't want to vote for something that I don't have a speaker of the House that will fight for it,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told the Washington Examiner. “And I know for a fact we do not have a speaker of the House that will fight for it.”
On the other side of the Capitol, Republican sources say the trio gunning to be the next Senate GOP leader are under the microscope: Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). All three are SAVE Act co-sponsors and running to be Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) successor.
“This is not only part of government funding and election integrity but also a piece of the race for McConnell's replacement,” a senior Senate GOP source said. “Calling on those individuals to take a stand here is going to be important.”
Sources in both chambers say McConnell is privately pushing against including the SAVE Act out of fear the partisan legislation could tank a spending deal with the Democratic-led Senate and threaten a shutdown at a pivotal time before the November elections.
Introducing the SAVE Act in the House could also give Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) an opportunity to throw in a voting rights bill, such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
But Johnson is facing pressure from the conservative Freedom Caucus, which took the position on Aug. 12 to include the SAVE Act in any continuing resolution legislation and is demanding Johnson use "leverage" in the spending fights to pass the Trump-backed legislation.
The support for the SAVE Act from both hard-liners and establishment GOP lawmakers in this latest spending deal is a contrast to previous feuds over such measures known as continuing resolutions. Infighting between House leadership and hard-line members from the House Freedom Caucus over continuing resolutions have previously kneecapped negotiations.
Now, it appears September will be an inter-chamber battle between Senate and House Republicans over whether the voter integrity bill should be included.
Some Republicans accuse McConnell of undermining their talks and presenting misleading fears over including the SAVE Act because he would prefer to pass a yearlong budget. Many congressional Republicans want a short-term measure to allow a possible Trump presidency greater power over government spending.
“McConnell wants an end-of-year omnibus,” a senior Republican aide told the Washington Examiner. “It's a big swamp spending spree for all the usual swamp suspects. Most people see right through this and think he's pulling the John Lewis thing out of thin air.”
McConnell’s office declined to comment and said it did not respond in the press to internal GOP staff discussions.
The SAVE Act, which is sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and endorsed by Johnson and former President Donald Trump, was passed with support from all Republicans and five Democrats in July.
Several hard-line Republicans hardly ever vote for continuing resolutions. They argue that spending bills should be passed one by one and excessive spending should be cut, not extended. As they have in previous spending battles this Congress, House GOP leadership has needed to rely on Democratic support to pass a continuing resolution through to the Senate.
Meanwhile, Schumer ultimately controls the Senate floor schedule and which bills receive votes. His party's votes will be needed to extend government funding.
Roy said he is one of such Republicans who “loath to pass a continuing resolution” in the first place.
“As we head into the September season and funding government, we don't think we should be funding the government if we're not ensuring that the elections that are going to determine the fate and future of the country aren't being decided by just citizens,” Roy said in an interview.
The Texas Republican blasted “swamp Republicans” such as McConnell for supporting a continuing resolution, arguing they want the spending deal to secure money for Ukraine and receive earmarks to get “goodies as retiring members of Congress.”
“So, those of us — you want to talk about, like, who's fighting, you’ve got conservative Republicans who were trying to do what we said we would do, which is constrain spending, constrain the swamp, ensure only citizens vote, try to deal with the border the best we can and manage a funding bill to get it out of a swamp driven lame duck,” Roy said.
However, a House leadership aide told the Washington Examiner that the length for a continuing resolution, as well as bills attached, such as the SAVE Act, could affect whether some Republicans typically against the spending measure are swayed to vote for it.
“We don't want to kick the can down the road, but we are in a position right now where, heading into September, we are almost assuredly going to get a continual resolution because we don't have the appropriations bills completed,” Roy said. “So if that's going to be the case, then I believe that we should be fighting for an important issue that unites our conference but, more importantly, is an 80-plus percent issue among American citizens.”
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Greene said she would consider voting for the continuing resolution should the SAVE Act be included.
“If we don't have fair elections, if we don't have elections we can trust, we don't have a government. And that's really the reality. So yeah, we're willing to fight for it. I'm willing to fight for it,” Greene said.
Emily Hallas contributed to this report.
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