House Republicans’ plan to avert a partial government shutdown and crack down on election security surpassed a key hurdle Monday evening, though it’s headed for an uncertain fate in a chamber-wide vote this week.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is aiming to pass legislation combining a six-month extension of fiscal year 2024’s federal funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), and a House GOP bill to mandate proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.
The plan passed the House Rules Committee, 9-4, late Monday, bundled with unrelated bills – the final step for legislation before a House floor vote.
House lawmakers are expected to hold a procedural vote allowing for debate on the bill Tuesday, with final passage teed up for Wednesday.
But it’s not clear yet whether the bill will survive a chamber-wide vote, with at least five House Republicans publicly opposing it as of Monday evening.
Johnson only holds a majority of four votes, meaning he will likely need Democratic support for it to pass.
Both Republicans and Democrats agree a CR is needed to give congressional appropriators more time to negotiate fiscal year 2025 federal spending and to avoid a partial government shutdown weeks before Election Day. The House has passed four of 12 GOP-led appropriations bills so far, while the Democrat-led Senate has not passed any.
House GOP leaders are hoping to use the fiscal pressure to force Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., into holding a vote on the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill authored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and backed by former President Trump.
But Democratic leaders generally see the SAVE Act as a nonstarter. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called it ‘partisan and extreme’ in a letter to House Democrats on Monday, and the White House issued a veto threat.
Schumer wrote to colleagues on Sunday, ‘As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way. Despite Republican bluster, that is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception. We will not let poison pills or Republican extremism put funding for critical programs at risk.’
Congressional leaders have until Sept. 30 to find a path forward or risk nonessential government programs being paused and potentially thousands of federal employees furloughed.
Meanwhile, Johnson has little room for error in his own conference.
The speaker could get some help from Democratic defectors, however. Five House Democrats broke from their party to vote for the SAVE Act earlier this year.
A CR through March would mean the government funding debate will be taken up by a new White House – run by either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris – and a new Congress.