The House will vote Wednesday on the plan by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to fund the government, the speaker announced Tuesday — though the proposal lacks even enough Republican votes to pass and could deal the GOP a setback in government funding negotiations as a shutdown deadline nears.
By Jacob Bogage
Current funding expires Sept. 30, and without an extension, most federal government operations would shut down Oct. 1 as millions of Americans are already beginning early voting for November’s elections.
Attempts by House Republican leadership to flip “no” votes over the weekend were largely unsuccessful, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations.
“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections,” Johnson said in a statement. “ … I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this country rightfully demand and deserve — prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections.”
Noncitizen voting is already illegal in federal elections, and cases of voter fraud committed by noncitizens are practically nonexistent.
Republicans and Democrats both broadly agree that a shutdown before the election would be practically and politically unpleasant. Democrats in both chambers and many Senate Republicans instead want a three-month extension that lets lawmakers work out final spending plans in a “lame duck” session after the election.
But some far-right GOP lawmakers see the funding fight as a last chance to win compromises on immigration policy, and say Johnson should be willing to force a shutdown without those victories. Others are opposed to stopgap funding bills, called continuing resolutions or CRs, and prefer year-long spending bills, or appropriations. But Congress does not have enough time before the shutdown deadline for each chamber to pass all 12 appropriations measures and then reach a spending deal.
“We’re continuing to do CRs that are fiscally irresponsible. They really are. And we continue to try and put it up on a hope and a prayer that we’re going to get some policy when the Senate’s already made it clear, as has the executive branch, that they’re going to veto anything that has to do with election integrity,” Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said. “We have to truly get to a point where we start taking a real stance, to say, if you don’t start passing things that’s already passed the House, or even taking a vote on them … then we’re going to shut it down. ”
Others, including House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), worry that a six-month CR would devastate defense spending at a time of heightened global tension.
Johnson attempted to force a vote on the legislation last week, but pulled it from the House floor after it was clear that the bill would fail. Wednesday’s vote will probably also falter; Republicans hope it will give the speaker leeway to advance a “clean” three-month funding bill that can pass with votes from Democrats, after demonstrating that the GOP doesn’t have the votes to pass a more conservative measure. A majority of Senate Republicans also favor that approach.
“At this point in the process, the only way we can prevent a harmful government shutdown is by both sides working together to reach a bipartisan agreement,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “That’s the only way.”
