Schumer sounds off on GOP plan to tie citizenship voting requirement to spending bill

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., does not appear to be budging on a recent demand from conservative Republicans to include a Trump-backed voting bill in a must-pass stopgap spending bill at the end of the month. 

"As we have said each time we’ve had a CR, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way and that is what has happened every time," Schumer told Fox News Digital in a statement when asked if the measure's inclusion would be a nonstarter for Democrats. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rolled out a plan for a six-month spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR) on a lawmaker-only conference call Tuesday morning. Three sources familiar with the call said it would keep current fiscal year spending levels steady through March and would also include the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a GOP bill mandating proof of citizenship for voter registration.

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Reaching a spending deal is necessary to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of the month, and the inclusion of the SAVE Act in that deal has been pushed by several conservative Republican members of the House and Senate in the weeks leading up to Congress' return from the August recess. 

Johnson's office did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in response to Schumer in time for publication. 

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed the SAVE Act and recently came out in favor of a six-month, short-term spending bill that includes it, such as what Johnson unveiled. 

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A spokesperson for Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who authored the SAVE Act and has pioneered the effort to have it included in a stopgap spending bill, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "The majority leader's comment is encouraging, given that the SAVE Act passed with bipartisan support in the House."

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Another strong proponent of the SAVE Act being attached to the spending bill is Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. "This is already a bipartisan issue: a vast majority of Americans agree that voters should be able to show they are American citizens," he told Fox News Digital in a statement. "If Senator Schumer and his fellow Democrats disagree with this commonsense measure to secure our elections, they should explain why."

The measure notably passed the House by a vote of 221-198 in July, with five Democrats joining their Republican colleagues. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas; Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas; Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine; Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C.; and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., voted in favor of the bill, making it technically bipartisan. 

However, the relatively minimal backing from Democratic members of the House may not satisfy Schumer's desire for a bipartisan deal. 

There has not been a vote on the bill in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the majority leader is unlikely to schedule one. 

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The Biden-Harris administration has previously come out against the bill, claiming it does not serve a purpose because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote. 

"It is a Federal crime punishable by prison and fines," a statement of administration policy in July said. "The alleged justification for this bill is based on easily disproven falsehoods."

Proponents of the measure see including the SAVE Act in the stopgap spending bill as a way to force Schumer and Democrats in the Senate to vote on it and go on record with their position. 

While Johnson has come out in favor of the conservative members' call, it has not been similarly endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. A Senate GOP aide told Fox News Digital last week that the Kentucky Republican's top priority is keeping the government open and avoiding a shutdown.