House Speaker Mike Johnson will push forward a vote on his plan to fund the government on Wednesday, despite expectations that it will fail.
“We’ll see what happens with the bill,” Johnson told reporters. “The quarterback calls the play. We’ll execute the play. I’m very confident.”
Johnson’s measure would fund the government for six months, but also includes the SAVE Act, a bill backed by GOP leadership and former President Donald Trump that would require people to show proof of U.S. citizenship to vote. Democrats have said the bill is a dead-end solution because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
Johnson wanted to pass the financing plan last week, but withdrew it because he lacked the necessary votes.
Some Republicans in his caucus oppose the measure, saying it would increase the budget deficit. Defense hawks, however, say they would not vote for it because the six-month extension would affect the Defense Department’s readiness.
Yet he is sticking with the measure and is not talking about what the next steps should be if it fails. Congress must pass a funding measure before October 1 to avoid a shutdown.
Trump openly called on Republicans to shut down the government if they don’t pass the SAVE Act, writing on his social media platform that if they “don’t get absolute assurances on election security, THEY SHOULD NOT PASS A CONTINUING BUDGET RESOLUTION.”
Asked about Trump’s comments that Republicans should phase out funding in such a scenario, Johnson replied: “No, look, President Trump and I have talked about this a lot. We’ve talked about it a lot with our colleagues who are reaching consensus on the plan. We all believe that election security is of the utmost importance right now.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, accompanied by Representative Zachary Nunn, left, speaks at a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, September 18, 2024.
Ben Curtis/AP
Republican Senate Minority Leader and House Representative Mitch McConnell said it would be “politically beyond foolish” to allow a shutdown just seven weeks before Election Day.
“I think we have to wait and see what the House sends us. My only observation on this whole discussion is that there can be no government shutdown,” McConnell said. “It would be politically beyond stupid if we did that just before the election, because we would certainly get blamed.”
Democrats urged Johnson to drop his funding plan and come up with a clear short-term measure to keep the government going.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters last week that the only way forward was a bipartisan agreement that did not include “extreme” measures like the SAVE Act.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also called on the House of Representatives on Monday to pass a clean bill.
“To avoid a shutdown, the worst thing our colleagues in the House can do right now is waste their time on proposals that do not have broad, bipartisan support,” Schumer said.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Mariam Khan and Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
