The House of Representatives passed the SAVE Act, a bill requiring proof of citizenship for voting in federal elections.
The bill passed the House in a 221-198 vote, with all but 5 Democrats voting against the measure.
The Democrats supporting the bill were Reps. Henry Cuellar (TX), Vicente Gonzalez (TX), Jared Golden (ME), Don Davis (NC), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA).
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) argued before the vote that the bill is “designed to jam people up and to prevent Americans from voting.”
Another New York Democrat, Rep. Joseph Morelle, said the bill aims to “lay the groundwork to undermine the outcome of the presidential election,” adding that Republicans will seek to “undermine” elections “again and again until they realize either the futility of this exercise or the republic crumbles.”
Ahead of the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the SAVE Act would be “one of the most important votes that members of this chamber will ever take in their entire careers.”
“And it’s an issue we never thought we would have to actually address, but that moment has come to us now,” he continued. “Should Americans and Americans alone determine the outcome of American elections? Or should we allow foreigners and illegal aliens to decide who sits in the White House and in the People’s House and in the Senate?”
Even if the SAVE Act passes in the majority-Democrat Senate, the Biden administration said it “strongly opposes” the bill.
