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WASHINGTON – Congress averted a disaster at the last minute again by approving a short-term spending bill preventing a federal government shutdown that would have occurred on Monday.
Government funding is now assured until Dec. 20, just before Christmas, and the three-month bill, called a continuing resolution or CR, sets up another battle over how to fund the federal government just before the holidays.
Rep. Brad Finstad, R-1st District and Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-7th District, were among the 80 House Republicans to vote against the continuing resolution, which passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 341-82.
Finstad said in a statement that he voted ‘no’ because the CR continues to fund the government at last year’s spending levels and does not allow Republicans, who control the U.S. House by a slim majority, the chance to draft a new federal budget the traditional way – through the House and Senate appropriations committees – or cut any spending.
“This short-term extension is irresponsible and does not represent what the American people sent us here to do,” Finstad said.
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, voted for the CR but was also displeased with the process.
“Passing CR after CR is no way to fund our government,” McCollum said in a statement. “Funding the government is serious work that requires the support of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate.”
Former President Donald Trump had insisted that the CR contain a measure that would require all Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote. But that effort failed to garner enough support in the House and was left by the wayside, even as Trump called for a shutdown.
Having approved the short-term spending measure, the House adjourned on Wednesday until after November’s elections. The Senate followed Thursday after hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a closed-door meeting that lasted about 90 minutes, Zelenskyy told senators that he needs more F-16 fighter jets and long-range missiles with capability to strike more than 100 miles into Russia.
Minnesota GOP claim: Noncitizens register
After U.S. House Republicans failed to win approval of legislation that would require all who register to vote to prove their U.S. citizenship as part of a must-pass short-term spending bill, Minnesota Republicans stepped up attacks on the state for its new voting registration law.
Minnesota’s U.S. House members, in partnership with the Republican National Committee and state GOP Chairman David Hann, are demanding Secretary of State Steve Simon and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson provide them “with the information necessary to remove known noncitizens from the Minnesota voter rolls.”
The GOP lawmakers maintain Minnesota’s new automatic voter registration law has resulted in the registration of undocumented immigrants. They say the RNC has submitted “information necessary to remove known noncitizens from the Minnesota voter rolls over a month ago.”
They say they were made aware of the problem by a story on Fox News and are demanding “more answers to stop the failures in Minnesota’s election system.”
What happened is about 1,000 registrations were rejected since the new automatic voter registration law was implemented on April 30. The Secretary of State’s office said more than 65,000 new voters have been registered successfully under the law.
The 1,000 who were rejected did not have the proper proof of identity needed to register, the Secretary of State’s office said.
“They were not noncitizens, necessarily, they did not have the documents that were needed,” said Secretary of State spokeswoman Cassondra Knudson.
If these applicants – whose registrations were inactivated – showed “citizen-affirming documents,” they were allowed to re-enroll, Knudson said. Sometimes it was simply a case of confusion because of a name change when someone married, she said.
Knudson said every one of the 1,000 individuals who were rejected were contacted.
Nevertheless, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, and the other GOP members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, say there is not enough transparency nor safeguards in the new voting registration system, even as they admitted “we don’t know how many noncitizens were on this list” of 1,000 rejected applicants.
While there has been scant evidence of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections, Trump and his Republican allies insist it is a huge election integrity problem, promoted by Democrats.
“The Democrats have made their election playbook clear: Let over 10 million illegal immigrants into our country and allow them to vote,” Emmer said in a statement. “Minnesotans need to be able to trust in our election system, which is why we will not stop fighting to ensure that only legal citizens are voting in our elections.”
Democrats maintain that the GOP is trying to suppress the votes of low-income U.S. citizens who lack passports and other documentation that make it easy to prove they are eligible to vote.
More Emmer
Emmer is raising campaign cash from his new role as a stand-in for Gov. Tim Walz as Sen. JD Vance prepares to face off against the Minnesota governor in next Tuesday’s vice presidential debate.
“I am honored to play my home state Governor, Tim Walz, to help JD Vance win the most consequential VP debate in American history,” Emmer said in a fundraising appeal released this week. “Why? Because I know Tim Walz well (too well) – and I know how to beat him.”
In his pitch for donations to Vance, Emmer called Walz “an empty suit who has attempted to turn my home state of Minnesota into another ultra-Left state like California” and urged potential donors to “make an emergency pre-debate donation.”
The latest filings with the Federal Election Commission show the Harris-Walz ticket raising much more money lately than the Trump-Vance campaign.
During Walz’s debate prep, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has played the role of Vance.
Walz watch
Walz spent a lot of time this week preparing for his upcoming debate with JD Vance.
But he will also travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday to attend the University of Michigan Wolverines vs. University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football game. That’s part of an effort by the Harris-Walz campaign to register students to vote – and convince them to show up at the polls on Election Day.
A Harvard Youth Poll released this week showed Harris leading Trump 64% to 32% among likely young voters, whose ballots could possibly decide the election.
Walz also attended a couple of fundraisers in New York this week. He spoke about his frustrations over tight poll results during one event in Brooklyn.
“I’ll go to my grave not understanding how this thing is close,” Walz said. “And I don’t want to scare you, but this race is close. Margin of error.”
In case you missed it
We had a story this week about how the Harris-Walz campaign outraised the Trump-Vance campaign 16-to-1 in Minnesota last month, even though polls taken in the state show the race is tight.
And for state and local elections, the DFL is outraising the state GOP; the DFL legislative caucuses are outraising the GOP caucuses; labor is outraising business and progressive PACs are outraising conservative PACs.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House and Senate adjourned this week so lawmakers can hit the campaign trail. Left undone: a farm bill, which is causing Minnesota farmers a lot of angst.
Your questions and comments
One reader said he was puzzled by Donald Trump’s continued strong showings in the polls, even ones taken in Minnesota, which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate for decades.
“He says Haitians eat dogs and cats, is in all kinds of legal troubles, including a sexual assault case, is becoming more rambling and unintelligible in his speeches. And he spews not so coded racist messages. What gives?” the reader asked.
Well, the poll results show there is a lot of dissatisfaction with “politics as usual” in the U.S. electorate – and of a sizable rejection of the Democratic Party. I expect an examination of Trump support will occupy the time of many political scientists for many years.
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
