House Republicans opted this past week to scrap their proposal for a continuing resolution, which would have extended current government spending levels until March 2025 while attaching the party’s SAVE Act to ensure voters show proof of citizenship to get registered to vote. Mills, who had said he would vote no to attaching the SAVE Act to continuing resolution, explained that his decision stems from how “it’s the same song and dance” where Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-CA) and the Democrat-controlled Senate have said they would strip out Republican legislation from the CR. 

“Look, if we pass the SAVE Act, we’re going to end up spending $6.3 billion a day, $3 billion in interest payments, $77,000 per second driving up our debt, which is already over $36 trillion,” Mills said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo. “And, by the way, as I mentioned previously, we’re going to spend more in servicing the interest payments on our debt than we will our entire national defense annual spending. Plus, this CR will not allow new programs of record, which also hurts our military and our defense.”

Steil disagreed, arguing that the House should pass the CR with the SAVE Act to put the legislation in the Senate’s lap, arguing it would help election integrity ahead of the 2024 presidential election. He added that the House has an opportunity to put the legislation to a vote, despite House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to scrap it this past week.

Mills then asked why House Republicans think the SAVE Act will be passed by the Senate when similar attachments to bills have failed in the past. The Florida congressman stated he did not run for Congress to continue “the status quo,” and is choosing not to continue raising the nation’s debt with his party’s attempt to pass a CR.

Steil claimed that Congress has the chance to prevent a government shutdown by attaching the SAVE Act to the continuing resolution, prompting host Maria Bartiromo to interrupt and remind the congressman that Schumer has said he would not bring the SAVE Act to the Senate floor. When pressed to see if the House would shut down the government, Steil stated that the entire House Republican conference is “ready to go to the mat,” though relented that bringing the continuing resolution up to a vote is up to the House speaker.

Other House Republicans have issued warnings about allowing the government to shut down. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is seeking reelection in a battleground district, cautioned that risking a shutdown would be “idiotic.” 

Congress is slated to go on recess from Sept. 27 until Election Day. Should the government enter a shutdown on Oct. 1, Congress would likely be stuck in Washington, D.C., to sort out a deal, keeping many members off the campaign trail.