The House of Representatives passed a bill led by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, to ban non-U.S. citizens from voting in Washington, D.C. elections, with 266 Republicans and Democrats voting in favor and 148 opposing it. The measure was criticized by progressive Democrats who argued that it undermines local home rule and is politically motivated.
Progressive Democrats, such as Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., have dismissed the GOP concerns about foreign agents participating in D.C. elections as unfounded, arguing that it is highly unlikely that foreign officials would vote in those elections. Frost, who spoke out against the bill on Tuesday afternoon, claimed that the GOP uses the issue to score political points and undermine Democratic principles.
Pfluger, who spoke with Fox News Digital before the vote, was optimistic that it would get at least some Democratic support. He noted that 52 Democrats voted for the bill when it passed the House in the previous Congress, but it was never taken up in the formerly Democrat-controlled Senate, however.
‘It’s hard to go back to your district as a Democrat and say, yeah, I want foreign agents to be able to vote in our elections – ‘Oh yeah, it’s not federal elections,’ some may say. But it has an impact on the way the city is run,’ Pfluger said. He argued that the presence of foreign agents in D.C. elections goes against the fabric of American society.
Another bill receiving a vote on Tuesday is legislation that would grant D.C. police the ability to negotiate punishments via collective bargaining, and would help shield the capital’s police force from at least some liability by installing a statute of limitations against the Metropolitan Police Department.
That legislation was introduced by New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino.