U.S. House speaker withdraws spending bill that would require ID to register to vote

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled a six-month stopgap spending bill from heading to the floor for a vote Wednesday, scuttling efforts by the GOP to show solidarity behind their plan, which included a provision requiring ID to register to vote in federal elections.

The spending bill, released by House Republicans last week in the heat of a presidential campaign in which immigration is a central focus, had no chance of becoming law amid opposition from Democrats, a cool response from many GOP senators and a veto threat from the Biden administration.

A number of House GOP lawmakers had also come out against the legislation .

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, told reporters that lawmakers plan to work through the weekend to find a path forward on the stopgap spending bill and language that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

“No vote today because we are in the consensus-building business here in Congress; with a small majority, that’s what you do,” he said. “We’re having thoughtful conversations, family conversations within the Republican Conference and I believe we’ll get there.”

Johnson said Congress has “two primary obligations right now.”

One is funding the government ahead of the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, thereby avoiding a shutdown.

And he said the other is addressing concerns about the possibility that people who are not citizens could vote in the November election, even though that is already illegal.

“We’re going to continue to work on this. The whip is going to do the hard work and build consensus. We’re going to work through the weekend on that,” Johnson told reporters. “And I want any member of Congress, in either party, to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections.”

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump posted on social media Tuesday that Republicans should not vote for any short-term spending measure without the sidecar voter ID bill attached.

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, called for a bipartisan negotiation after news broke of Johnson pulling the vote.