U.S. House Passes Nationwide Proof of Citizenship Bill; Biden Says He’ll Veto It
The U.S. House passed a nationwide proof of citizenship bill — the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — with a 221-198 vote Wednesday evening, with 216 Republicans and five Democrats voting for its passage. President Joe Biden has already indicated he’ll veto it if it comes to his desk.
“American citizens will be protected and in no way harmed by this bill,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on the House floor yesterday. “There is not a conceivable argument that the Democrats can make to oppose the common sense measures that we’re putting before them today, nothing changes the voter registration process in the States, the only people who face hurdles here are those who are trying to break our federal laws.”
This is a lie.
“The alleged justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods,” the Biden administration wrote in a statement. “This bill would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls. “
A survey conducted from September to October 2023 reveals that one in 10 eligible U.S. voters can’t easily access documents to prove their citizenship, like passports or birth certificates.
Around 15 to 18 million adults in the U.S. don’t have access to these documents for a variety of reasons, including complicated documentation requirements, expensive fees, limited availability of ID services, confusing state policies and racial and gender discrimination, according to a 2022 report from The Movement Advancement Project.
These barriers disproportionately impact people in minority groups, especially voters of color, according to the report.
The Biden administration also noted in a statement that it’s “extraordinarily rare” for noncitizens to illegally vote in federal elections, making this bill unnecessary.
Johnson first announced in April that congressional Republicans were working on a federal voter suppression bill targeting noncitizens from voting. Johnson made the announcement alongside former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
His colleague Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) formally introduced the bill on May 7, along with 46 GOP co-sponsors, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
The bill amends the National Voter Registration Act to require anyone registering to vote in federal elections to provide an approved citizenship document — including a U.S. passport, military ID, birth certificate, naturalization certificate or a government-issued photo ID card.
The legislation also requires states to purge noncitizens from their voter rolls, and if someone is unlawfully registered to vote, the Secretary of Homeland Security can determine whether to initiate removal proceedings.
Even if the bill passes the U.S. Senate, Biden will veto the bill, so it will not become law before the consequential 2024 election.
However, its implications are still important because this Republican message about noncitizen voting can spread to the state level, too. GOP-led states can implement proof of citizenship requirements, and some already have.
Also, this proof of citizenship bill and the continued rhetoric around this issue could cast doubt on the credibility of the 2024 election, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) said on the House floor yesterday. Morelle is a ranking member of the committee that introduced the bill and has long expressed his opposition to it.
“This bill is about scaring Americans. This bill is about silencing Americans. This bill is about disenfranchising Americans. This bill is about further damaging the foundations of our democracy,” Morelle said.
Read more about noncitizen voting here.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced a nationwide proof of citizenship bill — dubbed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — to the House floor on Thursday after a committee hearing. The GOP majority also passed a bill to ban noncitizen voting in Washington, D.C.
During a markup session in the Committee on House Administration on Thursday, members of Congress debated and voted to advance the SAVE Act, after it was discussed in a hearing the prior week.
Committee chair Rep. Brian Steil (R-Wis.) underscored the importance of this bill, which was introduced earlier this month by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).
Steil said that noncitizen voting is a real threat, citing a recent example in Ohio where 137 noncitizens were identified on voter rolls. During the hearing, he also claimed that although it is illegal for noncitizens to vote, they’re still doing it.
“While it’s illegal today for noncitizens to vote in our federal elections, it’s also illegal to evade Border Patrol and unlawfully enter the country, and as we’ve seen, that hasn’t stopped anyone,” Steil said.
Ranking Member Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) slammed Republicans during the hearing for spreading “disproven lies to actively undermine American faith in our democracy,” and criticized them for repeatedly discussing this issue.
“The hearing that we held last week… was not only a waste of this committee’s time but a waste of the taxpayer resources,” Morelle said. “This markup today is the latest blemish on the majority’s anti-democracy quest.”
During the hearing, Steil also said that he doesn’t support District citizens voting on a local level, bringing up House Resolution 192, which would overturn D.C.’s legislation allowing noncitizens to vote in municipal elections. Rep. August Kluger (R-Texas) introduced H.R. 192 in January 2023 to repeal The Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2022.
Later that day, the bill passed the GOP-controlled House with a 262-143 vote, with 52 Democrats supporting it.
Earlier this month, Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) introduced the Demanding Citizenship in D.C. Elections Act, which would also require people voting in D.C. municipal elections to be U.S. citizens.
The debate in Congress over noncitizen voting will likely not end anytime soon. Republicans claim they’re protecting the integrity of U.S. elections, and Democrats argue that the GOP is using the issue to plant the seeds for a movement to overturn the 2024 election results.