The conservative House Freedom Caucus unveiled on Monday a strategy that seeks to avoid a “lame duck” omnibus package that could extend Democrat priorities into a second term of Donald Trump as president and would throw in a bill that requires voters to prove citizenship.
Congress has until the end of September to pass legislation to fund the various arms of the federal government or face the prospect of a shutdown, but the GOP-led House is not expected to return from summer recess until three weeks before that deadline. If lawmakers cannot pass individual spending bills, they could resort to a massive omnibus full of pork and perks.
The Freedom Caucus, which includes a few dozen members, “believes 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,” the group said in a new statement.
“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,” the statement continued.
Such a plan for a stop-gap measure bets against Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced President Joe Biden atop the Democratic Party’s ticket, prevailing in the November election as the group noted atop its statement that it would “ensure Democrats cannot undermine” a second Trump term with an omnibus in December.
The Freedom Caucus also called for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which aims to require individuals show proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in elections for federal office and pushes states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls, to be added to the short-term spending bill.
“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 last four years,” the group said.
While the House passed the SAVE Act in July with some bipartisan support, the Democrat-led Senate has not taken it up and the Biden administration signaled its opposition to the legislation. Democrats may rally behind the idea of a continuing resolution, but there could be a flashpoint with conservatives over the SAVE Act. House conservatives failed to get border security reforms attached to a short-term spending bill the chamber passed earlier this year.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told The Hill last week that lawmakers were “having some very thoughtful discussion about the pros and cons of the various strategies” on avoiding a government shutdown. He said a decision was “not yet determined, but it will be very soon.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a Trump ally, said on Monday that he backs the Freedom Caucus’s latest plan. “This is the way. It is the last chance for Democrats (and a few Republicans) to sabotage President Trump’s next term, fund Biden’s disastrous policies, and leave the door open to illegal voting. Don’t let it happen,” Lee said in a post to X.
Government spending is no small issue as the national debt, which has surged under Republican and Democrat administrations in the White House in recent years, surpassed $35 trillion for the first time last month. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, warned the debt was on track to reach $36 trillion by mid-November.
“Today, the U.S. national debt hit $35 trillion – that’s $104,497 PER PERSON – and by mid-November, it’ll reach $36 trillion,” Perry said on X. “The Biden-Harris administration’s push for more out-of-control spending is unacceptable, and further imperils our great Nation.”
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