Credit: Charly Triballeau / AFP – Getty Images
President Donald Trump is calling on GOP lawmakers to prioritize the SAVE Act in upcoming budget negotiations. Speaking on Monica Crowley’s podcast, Trump emphasized that he would rather see the government shut down than allow Congress to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) without this critical legislation.
In July, the House successfully passed the SAVE act bill with a vote of 221-198, with nearly every Democrat opposing the measure.
The SAVE Act aims to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to enforce stricter voter registration requirements. Under the proposed legislation, voters would need to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections—a shift from the current law, which permits states to demand citizenship proof only for local and state elections.
However, the legislation faced opposition when brought to the Senate floor. Despite Lee’s efforts to push for immediate passage, Senate Democrats objected to the bill.
“I just called up the SAVE Act on the Senate floor, seeking its immediate passage to ensure that only U.S. citizens will be able to vote in November. Dems objected. There’s only one “downside” to passing it: It’ll stop noncitizens from voting,” he wrote.
Now, Trump is calling on Congress to include the SAVE Act in the next spending bill. This measure, according to Trump, is essential for ensuring electoral integrity and accountability.
The President’s determination to include this measure is so strong that he’s willing to endorse a government shutdown if it’s not incorporated into the spending bill.
Trump also urged Congress to fight for additional measures, such as reverting to paper ballots and strengthening border security.
Trump criticized Republican leadership for their lack of assertiveness, pointing out that Democrats play a “much different game” by leveraging their power effectively.
Here’s the partial transcript from the interview:
Monica Crowley: Mr. President—election integrity and the Harris no-borders policy. It’s not open borders, it’s no borders, which, of course, now she’s trying to run away from. You support the SAVE Act, which would block non-citizens from voting in this election and in the future. Do you support adding the SAVE Act to the spending bill that Congress is going to take up next month in September to try to get it into law before this election?
Trump: Absolutely. And I think you should also change your elections to paper ballots. I think you should get a lot of things for that. That’s a big deal. When they extend that bill, they’ll extend it again and again. The Republicans ought to try and get some things for a change—the House and the Senate—they ought to go for getting things. They don’t get anything. They extend everything. Then it comes due.
Let’s say I win the election, then you know where it comes due, Monique? It comes due for me. The Democrats don’t extend. They don’t extend. They play a different game. They play a much different game. That’s what they ought to do. We’ll see what they do.
But if they don’t get the SAVE Act, if they don’t get much tougher than the SAVE Act—the SAVE Act is just one element—they ought to go into a whole thing where you want to have borders. They ought to focus on borders. The House bill that was passed—that’s the real bill that should be passed, but the original one, not this horrible one that was foisted upon us by some people that had a bad day.
But they ought to focus on borders and elections. If you can’t get the borders right, and if you can’t get the elections right, they ought to close it up. Just close it up and let it sit.
Monica Crowley: On the SAVE Act, Mr. President, it was reported a couple of days ago that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell opposes including it in the spending bill. So if that is true, I guess he wants illegals voting in huge numbers, which would likely mean your defeat.
So what would you like to say to Senator McConnell and other Republicans who might oppose this? And if they don’t get it into the bill, would you support shutting down the government over it?
Trump: I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it in the bill. And part of the problem is they gave away trillions and trillions of dollars to these people on the Green New Deal, on the Inflation Reduction Act, which wasn’t even meant to be for inflation reduction.
They named it that so it sounded good. Now, if they don’t get these bills, they should close it down and Republicans should not approve it. Now, I would disagree with them on that. You can get a lot. I mean, look at the debt ceiling. Look what happened with the debt ceiling. They extended it into the term of the next president.
Monica Crowley: Are you calling on Senator McConnell then and all Senate Republicans, and the House Republicans too, to make sure the SAVE Act is in this spending bill?
Trump: Well, it should be in the bill. For some reason, they don’t do it. They don’t do things that can really help our nation. It should be in the bill.
If it’s not in the bill, you ought to close it up. But you need more than the SAVE Act. You need borders. It should be in the bill—real borders. We had, like, the Congressional bill of a year ago. That was the real deal. It’s unbelievable to me how they don’t use leverage.
They have such leverage, and they don’t use it. I’m not there, but I have influence. But it seems to me they only need a fairly small number of Republican votes. That’s how they got all this trillions and trillions of dollars.
That should have never been granted, by the way. Should have never. If I was there, well, I wouldn’t have been asking for it, so you wouldn’t have had that problem. I wouldn’t have been asking for it. They loaded up the country with debt. They loaded up the country with money, and they spent it unwisely. They haven’t even spent it yet, for the most part. They haven’t spent 70% of it.
WATCH:
.@MonicaCrowley: “Do you support adding the Safe Act to the spending bill that Congress is going to take up next month in September to try to get it into law before this election?”
Trump: “Absolutely.” pic.twitter.com/Snf9aCsHfA
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 29, 2024
For Trump, the stakes couldn’t be higher. This isn’t just about one piece of legislation; it’s about securing America’s future and restoring confidence in the electoral process.
Several GOP congressmen have already pushed for this to be included in the spending bill.
While Americans struggle to make ends meet, the Biden-Harris administration is spending your tax dollars on illegal immigrants that they let into this country and want to allow to vote. This isn’t just mismanagement; it’s a betrayal of the American people.
Pass the SAVE Act! pic.twitter.com/1eJlSFvbvd
— Congressman Michael Cloud (@RepCloudTX) August 30, 2024
If you are NOT a US citizen, then you SHOULD NOT be voting in US elections.
This is COMMON SENSE.
This is why governors are taking action.
This is why @HouseGOP passed the SAVE Act.
And the Senate should pass the SAVE Act too.
YOUR voting franchise matters & must be protected. pic.twitter.com/LX2bdbwVDY
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) August 29, 2024
President Trump is right to push attaching the SAVE Act to funding in September.
85%+ of Americans support our efforts to ensure only Americans vote in federal elections #SAVEAct @MonicaCrowley pic.twitter.com/Q6SXNHuYHQ
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) August 30, 2024
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been undermining conservative demands to include the SAVE Act in the upcoming short-term spending bill.
McConnell’s team has recently indicated that GOP conservatives should abandon the SAVE Act to avert a government shutdown just before the elections. They argue that the bill would likely backfire on Republicans, allowing Democrats to push through their own voter legislation.
Read more:
RINO Sellout Mitch McConnell Moves to Torpedo Election Integrity Efforts by Blocking SAVE Act In Upcoming Spending Bill – And Open Door to Illegals Voting in US Elections
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