Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) slammed the SAVE Act and chastised Democrats and Republicans for producing political theater.
The lawmaker said he will not vote for the continuing resolution (CR), which would keep the government funded for a six-month period.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) GOP-led CR has been linked to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which would mandate states to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. Noncitizens caught voting under the proposed law could face fines and up to a year in prison.
“But wait, there's a bright shiny object on this CR,” Massie told fellow lawmakers during a U.S. House Committee on Rules meeting held Monday. “I've never seen one of these. I have never seen a bright shiny object attached to one of these must pass bills. Oh, wait, no … there always is a bright shiny object. A bauble, if you will — a little something to get excited about this.”
“And by the way, this is good political theater,” he continued. “I do like this part of it, that we're going to see almost every Democrat cast a vote so that illegals can vote in our elections. I mean, that's pretty clever on the part of our speaker to set that up, make you all take that vote.”
Massie then claimed that Johnson will remove the SAVE Act after the vote in an action he compared to “Lucy and the football again and the American public is all revved up.”
“‘Yeah, we're gonna get to say that we're gonna save these elections. We're gonna stop the illegals from voting.’ Really?” he asked. “How are you gonna do that in like, six weeks? I think they're all already registered. If they're gonna vote, some of them probably already voted.”
The congressman said the act “ain't gonna save anything” and “it ain't ever gonna become law.” I refuse to be a thespian in the Speaker’s failure theater.
The 6 month continuing resolution with the SAVE Act attached is an insult to Americans’ intelligence.
The CR doesn’t cut spending, and the shiny object attached to it will be dropped like a hot potato before passage. pic.twitter.com/0FdHRYTm1q
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 9, 2024
“I hate to break it to the Republicans: you ain't getting the SAVE Act,” he said. “It is not going to stay on this bill.”
“[It] is political theater, folks,” he concluded. “We all know where it ends up. We've seen it. I've been here 12 years, I've seen it 12 times. I refuse to be a thespian in this failure theater.”
Earlier in his comments, Massie compared Congress’ efforts to Groundhog Day.
“It's good theater,” he said. “We've got great writers. I wish they’d just come up with a new plot. It's the same plot every fiscal year.”
Other Republicans in the House agreed with Massie’s comments.
“Passing the CR plus SAVE ACT would only be worth it if the CR included the 1% spending cut (which it does not) AND if Speaker Johnson would hold the line in a government shut down and to see SAVE become law. Johnson won’t,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) wrote in an X post.
“FACTS: The SAVE Act passed the House on July 10, 2024, by a vote of 221 to 198 with 216 R and 5 D voting in favor,” wrote Cory Mills (Fla.). “Don’t let anyone tell you it must be attached to an irresponsible spending resolution. If policy riders work so well then why didn’t we attach H.R.2 Secure The Border Act to secure border, or H.R.1 Low Cost Energy Act for energy dominance?”
Axios reports three other conservative representatives — Jim Banks (Ind.), Mike Rogers (Ala.), and Beth Van Duyne (Texas) — oppose the CR, and Rep. Tim Burchett (Tenn.) is “leaning no.”
On Monday, the White House released a statement claiming that if the spending proposal made it to President Joe Biden’s desk, he would veto it.
“Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to keep the Government open and provide emergency funding for disaster needs, House Republicans have chosen brinksmanship,” said the statement.
Despite GOP opposition, Johnson said he will move forward with his plan to bring the legislation to a vote on the House floor.
“We’re going to put the SAVE Act and the CR together and we’re going to move that through the process,” Johnson said Tuesday morning, per The Hill. “I am resolved to that. We’re not looking at any other alternative or any other step; I think it’s the right thing to do.”
When pressed on the notion that his efforts seemed likely to fail, Johnson said, “You all know how I operate: You do the right thing, and you let the chips fall where they may. So, we’ll see what happens.”
