WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Wednesday are expected to derail their own plan to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, with the party divided over the length of a short-term funding bill and what, if anything, should be attached to it.
Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan calls for extending funding at current spending levels for six months, through March 2025, and linking it with the SAVE Act, Donald Trump-backed legislation requiring that people show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The funding package is on track to fail given Republicans’ razor-thin 220-211 majority and the fact that a number of GOP lawmakers — a mix of fiscal conservatives and defense hawks — have vowed to tank it.
Democrats, who want a “clean” three-month funding patch with nothing attached, and nearly all plan to vote no. Many oppose the SAVE Act, noting that it is already illegal, and rare, for noncitizens to vote.
Wednesday’s vote comes a week after Johnson, R-La., yanked the exact same funding package off the floor because it lacked enough GOP support, but he’s decided to press forward again.
Some conservatives said they never vote for stopgap funding bills, known as continuing resolutions, or CRs, while Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., has warned that half a year is too long for military spending to remain stagnant.
But the overwhelming majority of rank-and-file Republicans back Johnson’s move, saying holding the vote will put lawmakers on record.
“I think it’s good to put it on the floor, let people know who the people are that support it and don’t,” Rep. Warren Davidson, of Ohio, said after a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday morning. “I think that’s more important to call the vote, let the record show who stands where. Everyone.”
Davidson, who was ousted in July from the far-right House Freedom Caucus, lamented that Republicans have failed to unify behind a plan weeks before the election. “It’s a combination of bedwetters who won’t fight for anything,” he said, “and purists who won’t fight for anything unless it’s perfect.”
Addressing reporters at his weekly leadership news conference, Johnson defended his strategy but wouldn’t say whether he would listen to Trump, who has called on Republicans to shut down the government if they can’t pass the SAVE Act.
“We’ll see what happens with the bill, all right? We’re on the field in the middle of the game. The quarterback’s calling the play. We’re going to run the play,” Johnson said. “I’m very confident, I know that all the Republicans believe in election security. We have some people who dislike CRs. You know what? I dislike continuing resolutions as well.”
Earlier, during an appearance on CNBC, the speaker said he wouldn’t entertain thinking about what happens if the vote fails: “I’m not addressing plan B’s.”
The government is slated to shut down at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1 unless Republicans and Democrats can reach a deal on short-term funding.
That won’t include the speaker’s plan, which is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and faces a veto threat from President Joe Biden.
Instead, the likely next step will be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., bringing to the floor a clean CR, funding the government past the election into December. That would buy time for bipartisan negotiators to strike a longer-term funding deal during the lame-duck session for fiscal year 2025 — if it can pass the House.
House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said after Wednesday’s meeting that he had complete faith in Johnson figuring out how to avert a shutdown, noting the speaker reached a funding deal earlier this year with Schumer for the current fiscal year.
“At the end of the day, if he ever wanted to shut down the government, he had a lot of opportunities to do that,” Cole said. “Since he’s been speaker, he’s never let it happen. I don’t think he ever will.”