Press Releases

WASHINGTON — At the weekly House Republican Leadership press conference this morning, Speaker Johnson addressed the House’s efforts to responsibly fund the government and prevent noncitizen voting in American elections.

“Only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections, and the Democrats apparently don't agree with that. When we put [the SAVE Act] on the floor in July, 198 House Democrats voted against it. Well, we're going to give them another opportunity,” Speaker Johnson said. “And I believe we can do both things. I believe we can fund the government responsibly, and I believe that we can do right by the American people and ensure the security of our elections. I defy anybody to give me any logical argument why we shouldn't do that.”

Click here to watch Speaker Johnson’s remarks

On the necessity of the SAVE Act:

“We are in an era of razor thin election margins… We have members of Congress as you know, Marianne Miller-Meeks won her first election in 2020 to Congress by six votes. We have members in California… and others who won their districts by 200 votes, 300 votes. It matters.

“If you have a few thousand illegals participate in an election in the wrong place, you can change the makeup of Congress, and you can affect the presidential election. The American people understand this. It is an 87% issue. Almost 90/10, and doesn't matter what party people are in. They demand, and they deserve us to take this action and make sure that illegals cannot taint the election.”

On misguided arguments against the SAVE Act:

“The SAVE Act is a response to what we deem to be one of the immediate threats, and that is illegals voting. How can we say that? They say it's not really a problem. Democrats say it's already against federal law. It is against federal law, but so is minors buying alcohol, but we still require identification to do it. Why? Just because something's on the books doesn't mean people are going to comply. You don't get to go into a liquor store or to go buy cigarettes, check a box, and say, ‘oh yeah, I'm 21, give me the product.’ That's not how it works. It's not logical.

“It is an exceedingly logical thing to require the states to request proof of citizenship before they sign somebody up to vote.”