WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that the House will move forward with plans to vote this week on a partisan stopgap measure to secure government funding, despite Democratic opposition and backlash within his party. Blocked the vote Regarding last week’s measures.
“Congress has an obligation to do two things immediately: fund the federal government responsibly and ensure our elections are secure,” Johnson said in a statement, revealing that the House is scheduled to vote on a six-month continuing resolution and an accompanying voting bill on Wednesday.
Last week, House Republican leaders acknowledged that their own opposition might have doomed the bill and removed the vote from the schedule. Johnson said at the time that Republicans were “in the business of consensus building” and that a vote would likely be delayed until this week until leadership solidified its support.
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Congress has to fund the government by the end of the month, so short-term measures are needed to avoid a government shutdown. The plan marks the first move in a funding battle by House Republican leaders, who would attach a foreign voting bill that Democrats generally view as unworkable to a continuing resolution that would fund the government through March 28.
The bill, known as the SAVE Act, targets extremely rare illegal voting practices and would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this year, even though current law states that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections.
“I call on all my colleagues to do what the vast majority of people in this county rightly demand and deserve – to stop non-U.S. citizens from voting in U.S. elections,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Johnson to “drop the plan” on Tuesday morning, noting that the move “only makes it clear that he is at a deadlock.”
“At this point in the process, the only way to prevent a harmful government shutdown is for both sides to work together and reach a bipartisan agreement,” Schumer said. “That’s the only way.”
Senate Democrats have made it clear that the plan was dead when it was introduced in the Senate, and it remains to be seen whether the bill will pass the House. The addition of a voting measure is seen as an attractive perk for House conservatives, who often oppose continuing resolutions to keep the government funded. But even as leaders have spent time building support for the plan within the chamber, some lawmakers are opposed to the plan.
“Chairman Johnson is fighting a false war by adding shiny objects (that he will later abandon) to a bill that will continue our destructive spending path,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said on the X after Johnson announced the vote. “I am absolutely opposed.”
Asked about the possibility that the bill might not pass Tuesday afternoon, Johnson told reporters, “We’re not discussing alternative plans.”
“That’s the important bill,” Johnson said. “I’m going to work day and night to get it passed.”