Republicans have been urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to pick up a key legislative proposal that would require states to verify proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
They argue the bill is critical to ensuring election integrity in November, but it has so far stalled in the upper chamber.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., co-chair of the House Election Integrity Caucus, spoke to Fox News Digital about this on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wis.
She described election integrity as the "premiere issue" of the 2024 election cycle, noting that only five Democrats voted in favor of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which was introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. The bill aims to require states to obtain proof of citizenship – in person – when registering an individual to vote and require states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
"Everyone should be talking about the SAVE Act and the fact that 198 Democrats voted for non-citizen voting in our elections," Tenney said. "Nothing interferes more with our elections and our democratic process than to allow people who have not created and given up the responsibilities of citizenship, but are receiving the benefits of citizenship. And I think that's really important. One citizen, one vote."
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"Make sure that no one's vote is diluted, that that's sacred, the right to vote. The most profound expression of our self-governance is that sacred right to vote," she said.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., also criticized Schumer for not calling the bill for a vote in the Senate given there have been more than 10 million known encounters of people illegally crossing American borders during the Biden administration and another estimated 2 million known "got-a-ways" who evaded Border Patrol and escaped into the U.S. interior.
"We've been urging Chuck Schumer to take a lot of Republican legislation up over the 118th Congress. I mean, you rewind back to last April when we passed H.R.2, the Secure the Border Act. It would have given us the ability to secure our border. It was a border security bill. And it would have, probably avoided the over 10 million people that have come into this country illegally, the over 2 million known got-a-ways that are now in this country and millions more," said D'Esposito, who sits on the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Federal Elections Commission and got the SAVE Act to the floor to pass.
"That is sitting on Chuck Schumer's desk collecting dust," D'Esposito said. "The SAVE Act says it all. And, you know, if there's people that are wondering and they lay in bed at night as so often I do and think to yourself, 'Well, why do the Democrats keep allowing all these people to come into this country illegally?' Well, the fact that nearly 200 people voted against the SAVE Act, the fact that Chuck Schumer still has yet to take it up in the Senate and probably won't, is an indicator as to exactly why that border's wide open."
Democrats have been scrambling after President Biden made the bombshell announcement Sunday that he was discontinuing his bid for a second term and endorsing Vice President Harris.
As Harris heads out on the campaign trail for the first time since entering the race, and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressing Congress last week, the election integrity bill has fallen to the back burner.
"My senator, one of my senators, Sen. Chuck Schumer, should be taking this bill up immediately," Tenney told Fox News Digital. "If he really cares about democracy, and he really cares about the rule of law, and he really cares about the citizens that we represent in the state of New York and across this nation. He should tell every Democrat to vote for the SAVE Act in the Senate."
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer's office seeking comment, but they did not respond.
Schumer, who initially held off on doing so when the charges were first brought, called on Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to resign after being convicted in a federal corruption case, and Menendez complied on Tuesday, revealing he would resign from the upper chamber after Aug. 20. Tenney suggested that the change in balance of power could result in the SAVE Act coming to a vote after all.
"That could tip the balance of power in the Senate and could maybe make Chuck Schumer recognize that a couple of vulnerable Democrats are not going to want to vote against the SAVE Act," Tenney said.
Biden had promised to veto the legislation if it passes. Doing so, Tenney argued, would be the "death knell" for the election of Democrats. "If you're going to undermine citizens of this great country by saying that their vote is not important in a democracy, which the Democrats decry all the time, then you are going to undermine our system of government," she said.
President Biden in 2021 signed Executive Order 14019, which was billed by the White House as "promoting access to voting." But Republicans argue the order's broad interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 essentially mobilizes the federal government apparatus to become voter registration agencies.
"That executive order tasked federal agencies to become vote collection sites," Tenney said. "I think it's a violation of the Hatch Act, which is undermining an election as well."
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, has been sounding the alarm about how state agencies receiving federal funding are required under Biden's executive order to send out voter registration information to anyone who comes into contact with those agencies without any verification of citizenship.
Essentially, Allen told Fox News Digital at the convention, the order "really weaponizes and federalizes the entire federal government apparatus to be voter registration agencies."
"I just don't believe the federal government has any role in voter registration that should be left to the states," he said. "Voter file maintenance is the foundation of election integrity."
"We have reached out to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and asked them, please send us a list of your legal non-citizens that you have on file so we can run them against our voter file to make sure no one slipped through the crack," he said. "But unfortunately, they have denied access to that data. But we're going to keep pushing. I think there's a crack in the door, hopefully, for us to get our hands on that data. That's data that is funded by you as a taxpayer, me as a taxpayer. Everyone funds those lists. And it just makes common sense that only American citizens should be voting in our American elections."
Allen said he had a chance to visit with House Speaker Mike Johnson while at the convention to discuss the SAVE Act.
"That 198 Democrat members of Congress would vote against giving us, as secretaries of state around the country, the tools to verify citizenship is just beyond me. I don't understand it. But I told Speaker Johnson, keep pushing. That's why we need to get Trump back in the White House. That's why we need to have a Senate GOP majority and a House GOP majority," Allen said.
As for Schumer, Allen urged the Senate majority leader to reconsider calling the bill up for a vote.
"Only American citizens should be voting in our elections," Allen said. "Give us the tools, the secretaries of state around the country, to verify citizenship. Allow us to do that, and to make sure we have clean voter files."
