Former President Trump on Tuesday appeared to throw another wrench into congressional Republicans’ plan for a government funding bill that’s already on shaky ground, telling the GOP to oppose any measure that does not include “assurances on Election Security.”
“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The former president repeated a false claim that Democrats are intentionally trying to “stuff” voter rolls with immigrants who entered the country illegally.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in recent days unveiled government funding legislation, which pairs a six-month continuing resolution with a bill backed by Trump to require proof of citizenship to register to vote, titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.
The White House called the attached voting proposal “unrelated cynical legislation,” and Democrats have more broadly called the legislation unnecessary because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
The length of the stopgap would punt the next funding battle into March, when Republicans are hopeful Trump will be back in the White House and can put his stamp on negotiations.
The proposal is unlikely to gain traction in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and the White House has said President Biden would veto Johnson’s proposal.
