The House Freedom Caucus is signaling it will not help Congress avoid a government shutdown next month unless a short-term spending bill is linked to a bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The conservative coalition of lawmakers is also calling for a short-term spending plan to extend until 2025, with the hope that Donald Trump retakes the White House.
The Freedom Caucus position is in direct opposition to their more traditional GOP colleagues, including House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) who expressed his desire last month to finish the government funding process by the end of 2024.
Other senior Republicans like Cole have admitted that a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will be needed to avoid federal offices shuttering and potentially thousands of federal employees getting furloughed.
However, the Monday morning House Freedom Caucus statement, released while lawmakers are in the middle of a six-week-long recess from Washington, shows the beginnings of a potentially messy fiscal fight.
In a new statement obtained by Fox News Digital, the House Freedom Caucus said that “House Republicans should return to Washington to continue the work of passing all 12 appropriations bills to cut spending and advance our policy priorities … If unsuccessful, in the inevitability that Congress considers a Continuing Resolution, government funding should be extended into early 2025 to avoid a lame duck omnibus that preserves Democrat spending and policies well into the next administration.”
“Furthermore, the Continuing Resolution should include the SAVE Act – as called for by President Trump – to prevent non-citizens from voting to preserve free and fair elections in light of the millions of illegal aliens imported by the Biden-Harris administration over.”
The House passed the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act last month with five Democrats voting with every single House Republican in passing the bill.
Rep. Cole told reporters last month that he would prefer something with wider bipartisan appeal, like supplemental disaster relief funding, to be attached to a CR instead.
“I haven't really thought about it yet, it's not a big deal to me. But again, if it can't pass the Senate, it isn't going to be an effective CR,” Cole said when asked about the SAVE Act. “So a real CR, you know, I'm more interested actually in disaster relief. That's something that I think the two sides can come together on.”
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It’s about time someone stood up to the bullies who would bankrupt the country. First by giving money to everyone except those who earn it and pay the majority of the taxes. Voters in the United States are to be American citizens, not illegals or invitees.