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Speaker Mike Johnson's bid to end run Democrats' opposition to an election integrity bill backed by President Donald Trump survived a key House-wide vote on Tuesday.
It's a major victory for Republicans in a fight that Democrats have argued is about suppressing Americans' right to vote, while the GOP argues it is about enhancing Americans' confidence in the electoral process.
The Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act has faced significant headwinds in Congress despite having Trump’s full-throated support. While it passed the House, the legislation has struggled in the Senate, where at least several Democratic votes are needed to break a filibuster and advance to final passage.
But the new plan by Johnson, R-La., which would allow key parts of the bill to skirt Democrats entirely, survived a key test vote on the House floor Tuesday.
The House voted largely along party lines to allow for debate on a $95 billion budget bill that includes some $10 billion for states to implement voter ID laws and a proof-of-citizenship requirement in the voter registration process — both key points in the SAVE America Act.
It's part of a wider measure being passed via the budget reconciliation process.
The reconciliation process allows the party in power to pass sweeping fiscal policy reforms without input from their opposition by lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage to line up with the House’s simple majority requirement.
But there are strict guidelines for what can be in a reconciliation bill. Such legislation must deal with yearly federal spending and revenues, meaning issues that do not directly affect fiscal policy are generally excluded.
The remainder of the budget bill includes $73 billion for the U.S. war against Iran and $12 billion in aid for American farmers.
The second chamber-wide step in the reconciliation process after Tuesday's successful vote is to pass a framework that directs the relevant committees to then craft details dealing with their allocated budgets. Those details are then put back into a single sweeping bill that must pass the House and Senate before getting to Trump’s desk for his signature.
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That framework is set to get a vote on Wednesday afternoon.
Whether it passes, however, is unclear. In addition to Democratic opposition, some GOP fiscal hawks are wary of the legislation's lack of spending cuts to offset the increase in the federal budget.
Original article source: Johnson scores commanding victory in fight to ram SAVE America Act through Democrat opposition
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