Donald Trump is pressuring House Republicans to connect funding for the federal government with legislation based on a racist conspiracy theory, which would then lead to a federal government shutdown. Trump has said he wants language from the SAVE Act included in the upcoming funding bill, which needs to be passed before a Sept. 30 deadline.
“I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it,” Trump told conservative host Monica Crowley during an appearance on “The Monica Crowley Show” last week. “It should be in the bill. And if it’s not in the bill, you want to close it up. So I’m not there but, you know, I have influence.”
The SAVE Act would mandate proof of citizenship for people registering to vote. The problem is this legislation is based on conservative conspiracies that falsely claim noncitizen voting is rampant.
It is already against the law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and it is extremely rare for someone with this status to slip through the cracks and vote. In fact, a study from the Brennan Center for Justice found that there were only 30 incidents of possible noncitizen voting among the 23.5 million votes cast in Arizona, California, and Texas in the 2016 election.
Democrats have made clear they would be opposed to funding legislation that includes the SAVE Act’s provisions.
“The SAVE Act is nothing more than a partisan scare tactic meant to erode confidence in our elections. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in federal elections — our elections are free and fair, despite the dangerous, often incoherent, ramblings of Donald Trump,” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington told NBC in August.
Without passage of a bill to fund operations, the government would shut down, again. This has happened several times in the past 30 years, all due to GOP actions. Republicans in Congress shut down the government twice under President Bill Clinton (in 1995 and 1996) and once under President Barack Obama (in 2013).
Trump presided over two government shutdowns when he held the White House because Democrats refused to fund an unnecessary border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. During those shutdowns, thousands of federal workers were furloughed and garbage and feces piled up at national parks, since nobody could be paid to provide sanitation services.
The Congressional Budget Office later determined that the shutdown that occurred in late 2018 to early 2019 under Trump caused an $11 billion hit to the U.S. economy and reduced the country’s economic growth in the first quarter of 2019.
While taking a break from pursuing legislation meant to demonize immigrants for something that isn’t occurring, Republicans recently killed a bipartisan deal on Southern border security supported by the Biden-Harris administration and members of both parties. The reason? Donald Trump was opposed to the bill.
Trump has spent his entire political career demonizing immigrants and promoting conspiracy theories about immigrants that have inspired racists and mass shooters. His rhetoric and actions show he sees no reason to moderate his bigoted views now.
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