WASHINGTON — House Republicans are expected to be derailed on Wednesday own plan prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month, a short-term funding bill with the party is divided by the length of the bill and added to it, if any.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan would extend funding at current spending levels for six months, through March 2025, and SAVE ActThe law, backed by Donald Trump, would require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The funding package is failing, with Republicans holding a razor-thin 220-211 majority and a number of GOP lawmakers — a mix of fiscal conservatives and defense hawks — vowing to stop it.
Democrats, who want a “clean” three-month fiscal patch with nothing added, and almost all plan to vote no. Many oppose the SAVE Act, noting that it is is already illegal, and rare, for non-citizens to vote.
Wednesday’s vote comes a week after Johnson, R-La. drew lacked enough GOP support to keep the same funding package off the floor, but he decided to move forward again.
Some conservatives said they would never vote on the temporary funding bills, known as continuing resolutions, or CRs, as Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., warned that half a year was too long for military spending to remain stagnant.
But the vast majority of rank-and-file Republicans support Johnson’s move, saying the vote would set lawmakers on record.
“I think it’s important to put it out there, to let people know who the people are who support him and who don’t,” Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio said Wednesday morning after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans. “I think it’s more important to have a vote, let the record show who stands where.” Everyone.”
It was Davidson kicked out In July, the far-right House Freedom Caucus lamented the failure of Republicans to unite behind a plan weeks before the election. “It’s a combination of bedwetters who don’t fight for anything and purists who don’t fight for anything unless it’s perfect,” he said.
Addressing reporters at his weekly leadership press conference, Johnson defended his strategy but did not say whether he would listen to Trump, who has called on Republicans to shut down the government if they fail to pass the SAVE Act.
“We’ll see what happens with the bill, okay? We are in the middle of the game. The quarterback calls the play. We’re going to run the show,” Johnson said. “I am very sure, I know that all Republicans believe in election security. There are those of us who don’t like CRs. what do you know I also don’t like the ongoing resolutions.”
Earlier, during an appearance on CNBC, the speaker said he wouldn’t entertain the thought of what would happen if the vote fails: “I’m not touching plan B.”
The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1 if Republicans and Democrats can’t come to an agreement on short-term funding.
It would not include the speaker’s plan, which has died since arriving in the Democratic-controlled Senate and is threatened with a veto by President Joe Biden.
Instead, the likely next step is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. will be Bringing a clean CR, funding the government after the election until December. That would buy bipartisan negotiators time to hammer out a longer-term funding deal during the lame-duck session for fiscal year 2025 — if it can pass the House.
With the Nov. 5 general election just 48 days away, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is warning that a shutdown would be politically devastating for the GOP.
“One thing you can’t achieve in a government shutdown is that it would be beyond politically stupid for us to do it right before an election,” McConnell said Tuesday, “because of course we’re going to take the blame.”
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said after Wednesday’s meeting that he had full confidence in how Johnson would avert a shutdown, saying the speaker reached a funding agreement with Schumer earlier this year for the current fiscal year.
“At the end of the day, if ever wanted to shut down the government, he had plenty of opportunities to do that,” Cole said. “He never let it happen because he was the speaker. I don’t think he ever will.”