US House will vote on funding bill as shutdown deadline nears

The US House will vote Wednesday on a government funding bill that appears doomed to fail, with less than two weeks left to prevent a partial shutdown starting 1 October.

Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson , announced Tuesday that the chamber would move forward with the vote, despite vocal opposition from members of his own conference. The announcement came one week after that opposition forced Johnson to delay a planned vote on his bill, and the speaker has only faced more resistance in the days since.

Johnson’s proposed bill combines a six-month stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act , a controversial proposal that would require people to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government, and ensure the security of our elections,” Johnson said Tuesday. “I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this county rightfully demand and deserve – prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections.”

Critics of the Save Act note that it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote, and they fear such a law would hinder legitimate voters’ efforts to cast their ballots. House Democrats remain overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal, and only a few of them are expected to support Johnson’s bill on Wednesday.

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Given Republicans’ narrow House majority and Democrats’ widespread opposition to the bill, Johnson can only afford a handful of defections within his conference on Wednesday. But a number of hard-right Republicans have already indicated they will vote against the bill, as many of them have rejected any kind of continuing resolution amid demands for more budget cuts.

Hard-right Republicans worry that, once the vote fails on Wednesday, Johnson will turn his attention to passing a more straightforward continuing resolution without the Save Act attached, although the speaker has dismissed those concerns.

“I’m not having any alternative conversations,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. “That’s the play. It’s an important one. And I’m going to work around the clock to try and get it done.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene , a hard-right Republican congresswoman from Georgia, attacked Johnson’s strategy as a “classic bait and switch that will enrage the base.

“Johnson is leading a fake fight that he has no intention of actually fighting,” Greene said Tuesday on X. “I refuse to lie to anyone that this plan will work and it’s already [dead on arrival] this week. Speaker Johnson needs to go to the Democrats, who he has worked with the entire time, to get the votes he needs to do what he is already planning to do.”

Donald Trump , who has championed baseless claims of widespread non-citizen voting, has increased the pressure on Johnson by insisting that the House should only approve a government funding bill if it is linked to “election security” measures.

“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, last week.

But even if Johnson could get his bill across the finish line in the House, the Democratic Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer , has made clear that the proposal faces no chance of passage in the upper chamber. In a floor speech delivered Tuesday, Schumer reiterated that only a “bipartisan plan” will make it to Joe Biden ’s desk in time to prevent a shutdown next month.

“The Speaker’s [continuing resolution] is too unworkable,” Schumer said. “I urge him to drop his current plan, and to work together to reach a bipartisan agreement with the other leaders – [Senate minority leader Mitch] McConnell, [House minority leader Hakeem] Jeffries, and myself, as well as the White House. We do not have time to spare.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, McConnell issued a severe warning to House Republicans that a shutdown so close to election day could jeopardize the party’s standing with voters and thus cost them seats in Congress.

“The one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown,” McConnell said. “It would be, politically, beyond stupid for us to do that.”