Congress is back after a six-week summer break; it’s been 46 days since the House last held a roll call vote. Lawmakers now have just a few weeks to avert a government shutdown when current federal funding expires at the end of the month.
The House is set to vote this week on a partisan Republican bill that would extend funding through March 28 and require proof of citizenship from people registering to vote in federal elections. Democrats have made clear that the GOP funding plan isn’t going anywhere, and the voting legislation is cynical and unnecessary because it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. The White House on Monday said that the president would veto the bill if it reaches his desk.
"Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to keep the Government open and provide emergency funding for disaster needs, House Republicans have chosen brinksmanship,” the Office of Management and Budget said. “This continuing resolution (CR) would place agencies at insufficiently low levels—both for defense and non-defense—for a full six months, rather than providing a short-term stopgap to provide the Congress more time to work on full-year bills. CRs are the antithesis to an effective government that serves the American people and should always be as short as possible to allow work on full year bills.”
Both the White House and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are warning that a lengthy stopgap would hurt the military, degrade readiness and erode the U.S. advantage relative to China, among a host of other concerns.
Democratic congressional leaders also came out against the GOP bill. “Speaker Johnson is making the same mistake as former Speaker McCarthy did a year ago, by wasting precious time catering to the hard MAGA right,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray said in a joint statement on Friday. “If Speaker Johnson drives House Republicans down this highly partisan path, the odds of a shutdown go way up, and Americans will know that the responsibility of a shutdown will be on the House Republicans’ hands.”
In a letter to colleagues Sunday, Schumer said the Senate would look to avoid a “pointless and painful” shutdown by passing a bill without “poison pills or Republican extremism.”
Republican leaders also face some opposition from their own members, at least four of whom have publicly come out against the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News that he believes the House will be able to pass the legislation. Asked what his fallback position is, he reportedly said, “There is no fallback position. This is a righteous fight.”
The bottom line: Johnson is also fighting to keep his job and avoid a rebellion from fellow Republicans who want him to play hardball with Democrats. “Johnson has two choices: Lean into conservative priorities and risk chaos weeks before the election, or work on a bipartisan basis to keep the government running, likely angering his right flank,” Politico reports. “Johnson has opted for the former, at least as his opening move.”
But it’s hard to see how this plan does anything more than kick off a fight that takes up time before the deadline at the end of the month — and test the nerves of those in both parties who want to avoid a shutdown.