Preventing noncitizens from voting is essential to the integrity and the future of the United States. That is why voting is limited to citizens under federal and state laws.
Rather than acknowledging this reality, Republicans in Congress are threatening a government shutdown driven by theatrics rather than sensible governance. Funding for the federal government expires Sept. 30, meaning lawmakers must pass a spending bill or face a shutdown weeks before the November election.
House Republicans have indicated they will not pass a funding bill unless the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act also is approved. That legislation would require new voters to submit “documentary proof of United States citizenship” such as a passport or a birth certificate in order to register for voting.
It is a good idea, but an unnecessary one. A 1996 federal law states that noncitizens who are caught voting illegally could face a fine, imprisonment and deportation. When people register, they confirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens.
On top of that, states have their own laws regarding voter registration. Washington requires a signed statement and identification such as a Washington driver’s license, state-issued ID number or the last four digits of a Social Security number. State websites also emphasize: “If a person illegally registers and votes, they also jeopardize attaining citizenship in the future.”
Enforcement of these laws is important for national security, but the issue has occupied an outsized portion of the political debate. In Georgia, for example, the state has identified 1,634 “potential noncitizens” who attempted to register during a 15-year period. In 2020, nearly 5 million people voted in Georgia — the state where Donald Trump demanded that the secretary of state “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”
As an extension of his repeated lies about the 2020 election, Trump now is urging a government shutdown if something such as the SAVE Act is not included. Congressional Republicans, he wrote, “SHOULD IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM GO FORWARD.”
It is performative politics at its most damaging, threatening serious consequences in a demand for an unnecessary bill. And it adds to the absurdity of the budgeting process in Congress.
Four times in the past 40 years, Congress has passed a comprehensive budget on time, providing funding for federal agencies. Every other year, funding has been approved through continuing resolutions that temporarily extend the previous spending. The result is an endless series of showdowns that threaten to close the government, usually over an issue that has little or nothing to do with the budget.
For some Americans, the idea of a federal shutdown is a feature and not a bug; anti-government sentiment has a long and often-celebrated history in our nation. But those who believe that government only affects “other” people should take a closer look.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs, for example, estimate that a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.2 percentage points for each week it lasts. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, a shutdown that started in late 2018 and continued into 2019 resulted in a loss of approximately $3 billion to the economy.
Despite that, Republicans in Congress, goaded by Donald Trump, are threatening to resume the tiresome song and dance over a specious issue. As budget showdowns routinely and regularly demonstrate, that is no way to run a country.
