EXCLUSIVE: Two Republican senators are taking aim at the Biden administration over its support for the Washington, D.C., Council bill giving illegal immigrants and non-citizens, which they say would include members of the Chinese Communist Party residing in the city, the right to vote in local elections.
Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., are urging the Senate to take up a joint resolution that would stop the bill in its tracks, following the House of Representatives' passage Friday of a bipartisan resolution of disapproval on the D.C. measure.
Prior to the House's passing of H.J. 24, the resolution disapproving of the D.C. Council's move, the Biden administration issued a memo stating its support for the council's bill and its opposition to the resolution, calling it a denial of "true self-governance," and evidence that D.C. "deserves statehood."
"The Biden administration should be ashamed," Britt told Fox News Digital. "This is a flagrant failure of the president to uphold his oath of office to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' Quite simply, he has chosen to pander to the far-left wing of the Democratic Party instead of advancing America’s interests."
"Voting in our country is a sacred right that must solely be limited to American citizens. This is simple common sense," she said.
The House passed H.J. 24 in a 260-162 vote. Despite Democratic leadership urging its members to oppose the resolution, 42 of the party's members joined Republicans.
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Britt accused D.C. and other Democrat-run municipalities of "diluting the value of American citizenship" with the push to allow illegal immigrants to vote, and added that it was "effectively disenfranchising hardworking American citizens, insulting those American citizens who came to our country legally and took the time and effort to go through the citizenship process, and undermining faith in our entire electoral system."
"D.C. would even allow official representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries to vote in local elections in our nation’s capital, when their stated interests run counter to America’s interests. This is a dangerous, illogical policy that Congress has a duty to block," she said.
Cotton echoed Britt's sentiment and called on Senate Democrats to join them in supporting S.R. 5, the Senate version of the joint resolution passed by the House.
"The Washington, D.C., Council is insulting every voter in America by putting forward this bill. There should be a bipartisan denouncement of this insane policy," he said.
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It's unclear when, or if, the Democratic-controlled Senate would take up the joint resolution for a vote. It's also unclear how many Democratic senators would join.
Britt told Fox News Digital that the move by the D.C. Council opened the door for foreign adversaries to exert their influence on elections in the U.S. capital, and that it incentivizes illegal immigration while a crisis was already raging at the southern border.
"The president failed to own this crisis during his State of the Union, and this latest move by his administration makes it crystal clear he has no interest in solutions to the crisis," she said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, but didn't immediately receive a response.
