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Most House Democrats voted in favor of allowing non-citizens to participate in the Washington, D.C. elections on Tuesday.
The House of Representatives handed over a bill led by R-Texas’ August Pfluger, banning votes in elections in non-US capitals.
It passed 266-148, with 56 Democrats joining Republicans and passing the measure. A Democrat voted “now,” with 148 people voting against the bill.
“I strongly believe in the federal overreach, but we have jurisdiction. Congress has jurisdiction over Washington, the District of Columbia, and we don’t want to use our jurisdiction and powers, but in this case they went too far.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries voted against the bill (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
DC’s progressive city council passed the Voting Rights Amendment Act in 2022, allowing non-US citizens the ability to vote in local elections if they have lived in the district for at least 30 days.
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Non-citizens can also maintain locally elected offices by the DC government.
Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-FLA. (Housing Monitoring and Accountability Committee)
Local measures have been a frequent target for GOP attacks, and Republican National Security Hawks are wary of the possibility of hostile foreign agents taking part in the DC election.
But progressive Democrats like Rep. Maxwell Frost D-Fla, who opposed the bill on Tuesday afternoon, dismissed it as an incredible scenario.
“Republicans argue that Congress has a constitutional obligation to legislate the issue of local DC, which is historically and legally wrong. Republicans are legislative about local DC.
“Only when they think they can score political points, they bring it to the floor and take away the democratic rights of people here in DC and home rules.”
Republican Research Committee Chairman, August Pfluger, R-Texas. (Getty Images)
Frost also argued that “they must waive their right to vote in their own country,” and that “highly unlikely” foreign authorities would vote in those elections, claiming that “DC has no authority over federal issues.”
However, when he spoke to Fox News Digital before the vote, Pfluger was optimistic that he would gain at least some democratic support.
He said 52 Democrats voted for the bill when they passed the House in the previous Congress. But it never came to the Senate, which previously managed by Democrats.
“As a Democrat, say back to your district, yeah, I hope that foreign agents can vote in the election. Some people say, ‘Oh, that’s not a federal election.’
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“This could be staff of a Russian embassy. They could be staff of a Chinese embassy. They’re a lot of people. That’s wrong. It’s against the structure of our society,” he added.
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Another bill voted on Tuesday is a law that will help protect the capital’s police from at least some degree of liability by granting DC police the ability to negotiate punishments via collective bargaining and by establishing a restriction law on metropolitan police stations.
The law was introduced by Rep. Andrew Garbarino.
Elizabeth Elkind is the main reporter of Fox News Digital’s reporting in the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen on Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow me on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to Elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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