In what is likely to be a politically charged showdown this week on immigration and home rule in Washington, D.C., Democrat leadership in the House is encouraging its members to vote against a Republican bill that would block a district law permitting noncitizens to vote in local elections, Axios reported Sunday.
This pattern has played out several times in the 118th Congress as House Republicans take advantage of their majority in an attempt to overturn progressive laws passed by the district.
With the election in November fast approaching, these fights have made it particularly difficult for vulnerable Democrats as Republicans target those who vote against repealing district laws on crime and immigration.
The vote, expected to be Wednesday or Thursday, will be the second time House Republicans have tried to overturn noncitizen voting in the district. Last February, the House voted 260-162 to overturn the law, but it did not get a vote in the Senate.
In that House vote, 42 Democrats voted for the GOP bill.
Although the current bill is also not likely to make it out of the Senate or to be signed into law by President Joe Biden, Republicans still see the issues raised as beneficial for their campaigns.
This is because Democrats "are already on the record supporting giving illegal migrants the right to vote and any change in their position is just disgusting election-year politics," National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Will Reinert said.
For its part, the whip team attempting to get as many Democrats as possible to vote against the bill points out "16 other jurisdictions across the U.S. have enacted similar provisions" allowing noncitizen voting and "nearly all House Democrats have voted in the past in support of D.C.'s right for self-governance and statehood," Axios reported.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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