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Speaker Mike Johnson has set up a Wednesday vote on a six-month GOP government funding plan that is expected to fail, as the Louisiana Republican is under pressure to show the bill cannot pass before pivoting to the next step.
Johnson was forced to yank the bill – which includes a controversial measure targeting non-citizen voting – from the floor last week due to significant opposition within his own party. But the speaker has been under pressure from conservatives and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to act on election security as Trump continues to sow doubts over election integrity in the run-up to the 2024 elections.
The plan to put the bill on the floor this week is aimed at demonstrating it will fail, according to two GOP aides, a move that will then allow the speaker to move on to a plan B, though it is unclear what that will be. Government funding runs out at the end of the month.
Bringing the funding bill to the floor only to have it fail would put the major divisions within the House GOP conference on full display, but Johnson is once again facing a major challenge as he attempts to navigate a narrow majority as well as demands from Trump. The GOP presidential nominee has said that if Republicans don’t receive “absolute assurances” on election security, they should not pass a funding extension.
“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections,” Johnson said on Tuesday announcing the planned vote.
“I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this country rightfully demand and deserve – prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections.”
In addition to GOP opposition to the plan, however, the six-month funding bill with the voting measure attached is viewed as a non-starter in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday of the speaker’s plan to hold a vote on the GOP funding proposal, “the only thing that will accomplish is make clear that he’s running into a dead end. We must have a bipartisan plan instead.”
If Trump digs in on his demand, that could make it even harder for Congress to ultimately pass a “clean” funding extension, which is widely viewed on Capitol Hill as the only viable way to avert a shutdown.
Johnson has emphasized agreement with Trump on government funding, telling CNN’s Jake Tapper last week, “I think President Trump is saying exactly what I have been saying, and that is we need assurances on election security and to fund the government.”
The six-month funding plan from House Republicans would extend government funding until March 2025. The proposal includes the SAVE Act, a GOP-led bill that passed the House on a standalone basis in July and would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, despite the fact that is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
Highlighting the pushback Johnson faces from within his own ranks, GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said on X in response to the vote announcement, “Speaker Johnson is fake fighting by attaching a bright shiny object (that he will later abandon) to a bill that continues our path of destructive spending. I won’t be any part of this insulting charade. I’m a hell no.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned later Tuesday that Republicans will get blamed if there is a pre-election government shutdown, saying that it would be “politically beyond stupid,” for them to allow that to happen.
“My only observation about this whole discussion is the one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It’d be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame,” he told reporters.
“I’m for whatever avoids a government shutdown, and that’ll ultimately end up, obviously, being a discussion between the Democratic leader and the speaker of the House as to how to process avoiding government shutdown,” he said.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Annie Grayer contributed to this report.
