A pair of bills related to voting caused more controversy than expected in the House of Representatives this week. One prevents illegal immigrants from voting in federal elections while another unconstitutionally allows Members of the House to vote from home. Unfortunately, the fight over proxy voting resulted in a cancelled work week for Members, but the controversy continues.
Representative Chip Roy’s (R-TX) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility “SAVE” Act (H.R. 22) was supposed to be brought up this week. This bill strengthens current law by enforcing proof of citizenship when registering to vote, streamlining the ability for states to purge voter rolls of illegal aliens, and allowing citizens to take civil action against their state if they believe this process has been ignored. The SAVE Act passed the House last year but was never considered by the Senate.
Democrats have used a ridiculous talking point that under the SAVE Act, married women would not be able to register to vote because their married name would not match their birth certificate. This simply isn’t true. The documents needed to prove citizenship will differ from state to state since states have the responsibility to register voters, however, providing a marriage certificate and alternate form of identification (such as a driver’s license or passport) will clear up any confusion. Additionally, those who have already registered to vote will not need to provide proof of citizenship since the bill only applies to new registrations.
This week, House Leadership scheduled a vote on the SAVE Act. However, another issue has been percolating that would erupt to thwart these plans — the attempt to force a vote on proxy voting.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and Rep. Brittany Petersen (D-CO) drafted H. Res. 23 to allow a Member of the House to vote by proxy for up to 12 weeks if that Member has recently given birth, has pregnancy-related complications, or has a spouse who has just given birth. The supporters of proxy voting pulled at the heartstrings of those who want to protect motherhood, but it would lead to all types of expansions and problems if approved. We saw this during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi implemented proxy voting in the House for the first time under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Republicans, in the minority at the time, were opposed to the measure. It took a Republican majority in the House almost 3 years later to overturn that rule. During that time, many Members took advantage of this privilege. Several Democrats did not show up for months and proxy voted over a hundred times. These Congressmen were instead at fundraisers, campaign events, or book announcements.
Because most Republicans are against bringing back proxy voting, Rep. Luna decided to work with the Democrats to use a process called a “discharge petition” that gives the bill special privileges and bypasses the regular order. If a discharge petition garners at least 218 signatures from House Members and is offered on the Floor, it triggers a vote within two legislative days, tying the hands of the Speaker to block its consideration.
Most House Republicans have loudly opposed Luna’s resolution and the way she attempted to force the issue with Democrat support. Several Republicans sued Nancy Pelosi over her actions to enact proxy voting and filed amicus briefs in lawsuits over the issue. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) commented:
Look, I’m a father, I’m pro-family, but I believe it violates more than two centuries of tradition and institution. And I think that it opens a Pandora’s box, where ultimately, maybe no one is here.
House Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-MI) shared the same sentiment saying:
Our constituents expect us to show up and do our job in person. Proxy voting is a bad idea and a slippery slope.
In an attempt to thwart H.Res. 23, Speaker Johnson bundled the legislation for the week, including the SAVE Act, into one rule with language to block the proxy voting resolution. Passage of this rule would have allowed all bills to move to the floor for individual votes. However, Rep. Luna, 8 other Republicans and all the Democrats voted to stop the rule. The Speaker was then forced to cancel all legislative activity for the week in order to stop the “privileged” proxy resolution and because the rule failed (a rule must be passed before a bill can come to the floor). Notably, no Republican women voted with Luna to kill the rule.
It’s ironic that federal government employees are being told to return to in-person work instead of working remotely while Democrats and a handful of Republicans are demanding the right to work from home. Sadly, this contentious tactic delayed consideration of the important election integrity bill. Whether the American people are casting their vote for elected officials or those elected officials are casting their votes on important legislation, the process must be conducted in a way that’s fair and constitutional.
Both pieces of legislation will be up for another vote next week. Eagle Forum has provided two opportunities to urge your Congressman to support the SAVE Act and oppose proxy voting. Visit our alert page here to contact your Representatives.
