The far-right Home Freedom Caucus is gearing up for a government-shutdown battle on the finish of September and a chaotic lame-duck session after the election, irrespective of who wins.
“In the inevitability that Congress considers a Continuing Resolution,” the Home Freedom Caucus stated in a assertion Monday, referring to a potential short-term spending invoice, “government funding should be extended into early 2025 to avoid a lame duck omnibus [bill] that preserves Democrat spending and policies well into the next administration.”
They need this in order that “Democrats cannot undermine President [Donald] Trump’ second term,” during which Trump would expectedly obliterate the funding agreements that President Joe Biden and Congress made for the 2025 fiscal yr.
That’s not their solely demand, although.
Within the assertion, the Freedom Caucus additionally stated the persevering with decision ought to embrace bogus laws to stop noncitizens from voting. The Freedom Caucus known as on Republican Home management to “use our leverage in the September spending fight to prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections.”
Noncitizens don’t vote, after all. Because the Brennan Heart for Justice explains, it’s a “federal crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. It’s also a crime under every state’s laws. In fact, under federal law, you could face up to five years in prison simply for registering to vote. It’s also a deportable offense for noncitizens to register or vote.”
What MAGA lawmakers try to do right here is muddy the waters on election integrity. Trump has been mendacity about noncitizen voting all yr, setting the stage for his inevitable voter-fraud/stolen-election claims if he doesn’t win in November.
That implies that the few quick weeks that Congress will probably be in session after Labor Day—and earlier than it takes off for the entire of October to marketing campaign—must be as unproductive and as chaotic as this entire session within the Home has been. This session has resulted in simply 78 public legal guidelines, far lower than traditional—and lots of of these merely title put up workplaces.
Bear in mind in July, when the Home left early for August recess, abandoning Home Speaker Mike Johnson’s promise that they might cross all the funding payments on time? Bear in mind how they couldn’t cross these payments due to GOP infighting?
It’s establishing a troublesome September and a worse lame-duck session during which the GOP-led Home will certainly keep on theme and attain subsequent to nothing.
