House Republicans privately know that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) doesn't have the votes to pass his combined voting regulation and shutdown-averting spending package bill, reported NOTUS — and are just bracing for how bad the politics are going to be for them when it fails.
According to Riley Rogerson and Ben T.N. Mause, Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL) told Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) on the week's House GOP conference call, "It's fixin' to be a sh-t show."
Johnson's plan calls for funding the government for six months in combination with passing the SAVE Act, which effectively guts the protections of the National Voter Registration Act by requiring proof of citizenship for anyone registering to vote — a time-consuming burden that experts agree is unnecessary because states already have less onerous ways of verifying non-citizens aren't voting.
Funding needs to pass by the end of the month to avert a shutdown.
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At least seven Republicans already oppose the measure, while Johnson can only afford to lose four votes. Some lawmakers who support the new restrictions on voter registration still don't want to pass a short-term funding bill on principle, while others are worried that the nature of the funding could undermine Pentagon readiness.
Making matters more complicated, former President Donald Trump demanded the GOP pass the bill as-is with the SAVE Act included on Truth Social, proclaiming they should "close [the government] down" otherwise.
"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," he wrote.
If Johnson cannot muster up the GOP votes to pass the measure, which in any case has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate even if it made it through the House, his only option to avert a shutdown would be to reach a bipartisan agreement with some Democrats — an option he has chosen in previous budget fights, to the outrage of members like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who unsuccessfully tried to force him out of office over the issue.
