All eight Republicans representing Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives voted with the majority of members to pass a bill requiring the U.S. Census to include a question asking if the person is a United States citizen.
The Census determines how many congressional districts and electoral college votes each state gets to help ensure American votes are equally represented in Congress.
The bill, H.R. 7109, is being called the Equal Representation Act. The bill previously passed through the House Committee Oversight on a straight party-line vote of 22-20, with not a single Democrat member supporting the legislation at the time.
On Wednesday, the House passed the bill by another party-line vote, as the final tally was 206-202.
Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) was among the members who spoke in support of the bill on the House floor on Wednesday before voting began, explaining how the Census’ lack of citizenship question allows states with more illegal aliens to get “more congressional districts and more electoral college votes.”
I can’t believe I am on the House floor debating just to ask every person during a census if they are an American citizen. pic.twitter.com/opVIktJcLN
— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) May 8, 2024
“You could see why my Democrat colleagues would have a problem with this bill. Factoring illegal aliens into the process skews things in their favor,” Burchett said. “Leaders in states like California and New York take pride in harboring illegal aliens. They should not be rewarded with more congressional seats or electoral college votes, which would end up distorting the will of the American People.”
“We have a history of saying that elections are sacred and that free, fair, and secure elections are the cornerstone of our Republic. It’s time to act like it and prioritize the representation of our People. Americans are sick and tired of seeing this administration weaponizing different parts of our government, and they don’t want to see something like the Census being used against them,” Burchett added.
On Wednesday, House Republicans also introduced a bill about citizenship through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which “seeks to ensure that only U.S. citizens participate in federal elections by requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Citizenship Paperwork” by Grand Canyon National Park. CC BY 2.0.
More smoke from the House Republicans. Exactly why Johnson should have been vacated. He does not know how to leverage his majority (regardless of its size – hence the word leverage) to get any significant legislation passed when it has no Dem support.
If they were serious about this issue they would have passed it during Trump’s first term.
You forget that Paul Ryan was House Speaker. A “never” Trumper.
Looks like this will have to wait until next year after the Republicans have the majority in both houses of Congress and a president who will sign it.