Politics and views in the United States.

Trump and Harris meet in their first presidential debate, Republicans risk a government shutdown over false claims of noncitizens voting, and the Justice Department issues guidelines for voter roll maintenance as right-wing challenges surge.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2024 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election.

In their first debate, Vice President Kamala Harris sparred with former President Donald Trump over his claim the 2020 election was stolen.

Trump rejected responsibility for January 6th.

He cited his assassination attempt before accusing Democrats, including then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of being at fault during the riot.

I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me.

They talk about democracy.

I'm a threat to democracy.

They're the threat to democracy.

For her part, Harris notably tried to get past the personal insults often made by her opponent, returning several times to details of her economic plans.

On abortion, Trump refused to confirm a promise that he would veto a national ban.

Harris responded with stories about women who have suffered because they couldn't get reproductive health care.

The former president also repeated false claims that Democrats are allowing illegal immigrants into the country to tip the election.

Our elections are bad.

And a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they're trying to get them to vote.

On Capitol Hill, Trump has instructed House Republicans to let government funding lapse if language requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration is not in the stopgap spending plan.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says he wants it included when they vote this week.

If you have a few thousand illegals participate in an election in the wrong place, you can change the makeup of Congress and you can affect the presidential election.

He may not have the votes.

While House Republicans have publicly announced their opposition to any continuing resolution, funding runs out on the 30th.

It's already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and it almost never happens.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is defending his move to send special election police to question residents who signed an abortion rights amendment petition.

He says they're investigating fraud and not intimidating his political opponents.

House Democratic State Representative Anna Escomni calls it corrosive for democracy.

It's just shameful behavior.

It's an abuse of power.

It's corruption.

And I really do hope Florida gets through it.

The Department of Justice has issued new guidance on how states can clean voter registration rolls.

This follows a surge of lawsuits, mostly from right-wing groups seeking access to the data and challenging procedures.

Houston Democratic City Council member Abby Kamen says Texas Republicans are crowing over the removal of a million registrations over the past three years, which will suppress legitimate votes.

It's the fear-mongering and the sowing of confusion that is dissuading and concerning voters.

I'm Catherine Carley for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.