Rep. Mary Peltola and her Democrat colleagues in the House voted against a continuing resolution that would have kept the government open past Sept. 30. A government shutdown is now 11 days away.
The measure failed; Peltola and the Democrats decided that as of Sept. 30, military members and border security agents will remain on duty, but simply won’t be paid.
The Democrats’ objection? The SAVE Act was attached to the spending bill. The bill ensures that no aliens may vote in federal elections. Voting is a right granted to citizens alone.
By choosing to not fund the government and allowing it to potentially shut down, Peltola and the Democrats seek to sow chaos in the weeks leading up to the presidential election as part of an election strategy.
The SAVE Act, written by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, is in response to the growing crisis of illegal immigration, including thousands of illegals being discovered on voter rolls. Recently, Virginia removed over 6,300 non-citizens from its voting rolls and Texas removed over 6,500, but tens of thousands are believed to remain.
“The threat of both non-citizens voting and a lame duck session is why the House Freedom Caucus is in the historically unique position of formally pushing for a continuing resolution into 2025 with the SAVE Act attached,” Rep. Roy wrote.
Peltola, moving farther to the left, split with her fellow co-chairs of the Rural Antifa Blue Dog Democrats caucus who voted in favor of continuing government funding; Democrat Rep. Jared Golden of Maine and Rep. Marie Glusenkamp-Perez of Washington State were two of three Democrats who voted with the majority of Republicans.
Golden said his vote reflects an important principle: “First, that keeping the government funded and avoiding a shutdown is a basic obligation of any Congress.”
Earlier, Peltola voted against a bill that cracked down on foreign money being laundered through nonprofits to influence elections.
