The bill is sponsored by Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) and has earned the co-sponsorship of at least 14 other House Republicans, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Byron Donalds (R-FL), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO).

“PASSED: @RepPfluger’s bill to STOP non-citizens voting in DC just cleared the Oversight Committee. Voting is a RIGHT of citizenship. Let’s get it to the floor,” the Oversight Committee, led by Republicans, wrote in a post on X.

Democrats and district officials have shown opposition in the past to the bill, which passed the House last year with most Republicans voting “aye” and 52 Democrats voting in favor. The Senate never put the bill to a vote.

The district’s congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), expressed her disapproval of the bill in a statement Wednesday:

“Last Congress, Republicans introduced 14 bills or amendments to prohibit noncitizens from voting in D.C. or to repeal, nullify or prohibit the carrying out of D.C.’s law that permits noncitizens to vote,” Norton said. “Yet Republicans refuse to make the only election law change D.C. residents have asked Congress to make, which is the right to hold elections for voting members of the House and Senate by passing the D.C. statehood bill.

“Over the past two years, our residents have repeatedly suffered the indignity of having politicians elected elsewhere — politicians who aren’t accountable to District residents — attempt to usurp the authority of our elected officials,” District of Columbia Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to House leadership ahead of the initial vote, which denied the bill’s passage before the second vote succeeded.

District Mayor Muriel Bowser didn’t sign the letter and allowed the original Washington, D.C., voting law to be enacted without her approval.

The district has been continually bracing for the impact of the Trump administration on the city. In November, Mendelson seemed to caution them against interfering in the city’s affairs. “We, the District of Columbia, have a very good city, financially sound, and well run,” Mendelson said in a statement at the time. “We will remain focused on our strengths, protect our autonomy, and make sure no one tries to take that away from us.”

DEMOCRATS SPLIT ON BILL TO BAN NONCITIZENS FROM VOTING IN DC ELECTIONS

Trump has made his presence known in district affairs, calling on Bowser to clean up homeless encampments in March. The president said in a post on Truth Social in March that the mayor’s office “must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City,” or his administration may have to do so. She responded promptly, cleaning out homeless encampments the next day.

The noncitizens voting bill will likely pass the House again, like in 2024, given the Republican majority. Now that the Republicans have the Senate and the White House, it is more likely to move forward.