On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson said that the House would not proceed with a planned vote on a stopgap measure to keep the government funded past the end of the month, acknowledging opposition from members of his own party that likely would have doomed the bill.
Johnson told reporters that they’ll delay the vote until next week as they work to quell Republican opposition: “No vote today because we’re in the consensus-building business. We are going to continue to work on this. The whip is going to do the hard work to build consensus and work on the weekend on that,” Johnson added, noting they are having “family conversations” about it.
Returning to Capitol Hill from their August recess on Monday, lawmakers will now have until the end of the month to fund the government, making a short-term measure necessary to avert a government shutdown. House Republican leadership unveiled their plan to push for a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through March 28. The House-passed measure known as the SAVE Act is aimed at targeting illegal voting, with the legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, despite the fact that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections under current law. Democratic leaders made it clear that the plan to pair the voting legislation with a stopgap measure is dead on arrival in the upper chamber.
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged GOP lawmakers to pursue the voting legislation in a post on social media, saying, “If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security,” they shouldn’t move forward with a clean continuing resolution to keep the government funded. However, House Republicans began expressing their opposition for the funding plan on Tuesday, throwing the vote into question.
Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com