As Congress nears another government funding deadline at the end of the month, reports indicate that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) plans to attach a Republican-backed election integrity bill to the must-pass spending measure.

Democrats immediately cried foul and one even objected that the bill, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship during the voter registration process, is an "outrageous partisan poison pill" that could result in a government shutdown, according to the Daily Caller.

It remains unclear why Democrats, who loudly insist that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote and that noncitizen voting isn't a problem, would so strenuously oppose a bill that would merely reinforce existing law and further guarantee that noncitizens are unable to cast fraudulent and illegal votes.

Bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote

At issue here is a proposed law known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, that would amend existing law to add a requirement that would-be voters provide documentary proof of their U.S. citizenship when registering to participate in federal elections.

That bill was already passed in the House in July with all Republicans plus five Democratic members voting in favor of it, but the Democrat-led Senate has thus far refused even to consider the measure.

In an attempt to force such consideration, Punchbowl News reported that Speaker Johnson intends to attach the SAVE Act to a broad spending bill that would fund the government through March of next year but must be passed before Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.

"Demanding outrageous partisan poison pills is a nonstarter -- we’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends." Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patti Murry (D-WA) said of Johnson's plan. "Senate Democrats will continue to work in a bipartisan way to ensure we can keep the government funded and deliver responsible, bipartisan spending bills that can actually be signed into law before the end of the year."

Joining her in displaying outrage over the GOP effort to ensure noncitizens can't illegally register to vote was Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who called the move a "scare tactic" by House Republicans and told reporters, "As we have said each time we’ve had a [Continuing Resolution], the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way and that is what has happened every time."

Republicans need to "jam it down the throats of Democrats"

The SAVE Act was first introduced in the House by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and he made it clear that he fully supports Speaker Johnson's plan to force their Democratic colleagues in the Senate to finally address the bill by attaching it to the must-pass spending measure.

In a Monday morning X post, Roy wrote, "Recall -- the 'SAVE' Act (I introduced it -- HR8281) passed with 5 Democrats voting for it (and others privately wanting to). If they vote 'no' with it attached to a funding bill that funds government to March -- it’s pure politics."

The Texas congressman reiterated that stance during an interview this week with Fox News host Laura Ingraham, according to the Washington Examiner, and said, "But what viewers probably don’t understand is that federal law currently prohibits states from being able to check citizenship when they register voters."

"The SAVE Act would fix it. President Trump is correct. He wants to attach it to a funding bill in September. Mike Johnson is correct," Roy added. "We just now need all Republicans to get behind it and jam it down the throats of Democrats who are more interested in perpetuating their scheme of pulling in voters for Democrats than standing up for citizen-only voting."

Thousands of noncitizen voters have been discovered on state voter rolls

The Examiner further noted that Rep. Roy queried why Democrats, who insist noncitizen voting isn't a problem, would be so vehemently aligned against a bill that ensures the supposed non-problem doesn't occur.

As for the claim that noncitizen voting isn't a real problem, the outlet also observed that both Texas and Virginia recently purged their respective voter rolls of ineligible voters and each state found that more than 6,000 noncitizens had, in fact, been illegally registered to vote.