The House will vote on legislation on Wednesday that attaches a must-pass spending bill with tighter voting rules, setting up a potential clash with the Democratic-majority Senate that risks a partial government shutdown less than two months before the election.
Congress must pass spending legislation before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1st to avoid furloughing thousands of federal workers and shutting down a wide swath of government operations just weeks before Election Day.
But infighting amongst House Republicans has divided their vote, with many faulting Speaker Mike Johnson after he shelved the vote last week due to the lack of support from his caucus. At least six Republicans are poised to reject the funding bill.
Johnson's unpopular plan calls for extending funding at current spending levels for six months, through March 2025, and linking it with the SAVE Act, the Donald Trump-backed legislation requiring that people show proof of citizenship to register to vote.
House Democrats 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.
Speaker Johnson has 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.
At press time, House Democrats were still questioning whether Johnson would go ahead with the vote on Wednesday afternoon. "We'll see if this vote gets called. We've been down this road before," Representative Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said at a news conference.