Hakeem Jeffries rejects GOP spending bill as ‘unserious and unacceptable’
WASHINGTON — House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called it “unserious and unacceptable” and rejected a proposal Monday proposal from Speaker Mike Johnson, who is linking continued government funding for six months to a measure to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
The response sets the stage for a spending battle in the coming weeks as lawmakers try to reach agreement on a short-term spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1. Lawmakers hope to avoid a shutdown just weeks before voters go to the polls.
Johnson is pushing final spending decisions for the year until next year, when a new president and Congress take over. He is doing so at the urging of members of his conference who believe Republicans will be better positioned next year to secure the funding and policy priorities they want.
But Jeffries said the appropriations process must be completed by the end of the current calendar year, and the short-term measure must reflect that. It must also be free of “partisan policy changes,” Jeffries said.
“There is no other viable path forward that protects the health, safety, and economic well-being of hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to House Democrats released Monday.
Lawmakers return to Washington this week after a traditional August recess, spent largely in their home states and districts. They are nowhere near finishing work on the 12 annual budget bills that will fund the agencies in the next fiscal year, so they will need to pass a stopgap measure.
The House bill, which includes proof of citizenship for voter registration, complicates the effort. The voter registration measure is popular with Republicans in the House. The House Freedom Caucus, which typically includes the chamber’s most conservative members, called for it to be added to the spending bill.
Republicans say requiring proof of citizenship would ensure that U.S. elections are only for American citizens, increasing confidence in the country’s federal election system, something former President Donald Trump tried to achieve. undermine over the years.
Opponents say it is already against the law non-citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections and that the document requirements would disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have the necessary documents when they do get the chance to register.
Trump and other Republicans have ramped up their complaints about the issue of noncitizens voting amid the influx of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border under President Joe Biden’s administration, claiming that Democrats have allowed them to add them to the voter rolls. But the available evidence shows that noncitizens voting in federal elections is incredibly rare.
Johnson called the proof of citizenship mandate a “righteous fight” as he entered the Capitol Monday afternoon. He said that even if a small percentage of people who entered the U.S. illegally end up registering to vote, “they can disrupt the election. This is serious business.”
Senate Democrats have also spoken out against Johnson’s proposal. And Biden administration officials have spoken out against the bill as well. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that long-term resolutions like the one currently up for a vote in the House this week would harm military readiness.
Austin wrote in a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate budget committees that if the bill passes, it would mark the second year in a row and the seventh time in the past 15 years that the department has been delayed in implementing several critical priorities.
“These actions impose unnecessary stress on service members and their families, empower our adversaries, waste billions of dollars, harm our readiness, and hamper our ability to respond to emergencies,” Austin wrote.
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Associated Press congressional reporter Stephen Groves contributed to this report.