WASHINGTON — The US government could halt non-essential functions weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election as congressional Democrats dig in against a House Republican spending bill that would enact more stringent proof-of-citizenship rules for voting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has included wording from the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in the lower chamber’s pending continuing resolution — which must pass by Sept. 30 to keep DC’s lights on — at the urging of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Members of Congress returned to Capitol Hill Monday from their August recess — with Democratic leaders calling the SAVE Act unnecessary and likely to deter voting, and Republicans pointing out past bipartisan support and saying it’s currently too difficult to verify voters’ citizenship status.
In addition to drawing stiff opposition from Democrats in both chambers and the White House, which called the voting provision a “poison pill,” the House GOP package — which would fund the government through March 28 — has failed to pacify Republican fiscal hawks who loathe temporary spending bills.
Every fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1, Congress must funding the government either through 12 separate appropriations bills or via a so-called continuing resolution, or CR.
Johnson’s game plan
With Republicans holding a narrow 220-211 advantage in the House, Johnson has limited leverage of ahead of this spending fight.
Trump, 78, helped redirect the debate to election rules — and adding the controversial provision means Democrats can’t be counted on to help the bill pass the House and can block the legislation in the Senate.
“I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it,” Trump said in a recent interview. “It should be in the bill. And if it’s not in the bill, you want to close it up. So I’m not there but, you know, I have influence.”
As president, Trump led the US into a 35-day partial shutdown in late 2018 over funding demands for a US-Mexico border wall, which the then-president ultimately financed with redirected defense appropriations.
A pre-election partial shutdown would likely spark an intense blame game due to the possibility of federal workers missing paychecks and the closure of public facilities such as national parks.
Five Democrats voted in favor of the SAVE Act when it came up for a vote in July. The proposal requires that people registering to vote present state officials with documents that prove their citizenship — including passports, state-issued REAL IDs that indicate a person’s citizenship or naturalization certificates.
The six-month window for the CR is part of an effort by Johnson to buy time until after the election — and the possible return of Trump to the White House and Republicans to the Senate majority — to boost the GOP’s negotiating posture.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, argued last week that a “continuing resolution that ends in December — rather than one that lasts a half year — is better.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also panned the speaker’s proposal.
“Speaker Johnson is making the same mistake as former Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy did a year ago, by wasting precious time catering to the hard MAGA right. This tactic didn’t work last September and it will not work this year either,” they said in a joint statement.
“The House Republican funding proposal is an ominous case of déjà vu.”
Schumer further dismissed Johnson’s offer as “bluster” in a Sunday Dear Colleague letter and argued that the “only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way.”
Backlash from both sides
Democrats aren’t the only opponents with whom Johnson will have to contend.
“I’m voting Hell No on the ‘Continuing Appropriations and Other Matter Act’ this week. I don’t care which bright shiny object is attached to it, or which fake fight we start and won’t finish. Congress is spending our country into oblivion, and this bill doesn’t cut spending,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote on X.
The US national debt blew past $35 trillion in July and the interest payment on the debt has been projected to exceed defense spending.
Deja vu
Following a similar spending battle at this time last year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and seven other Republicans banded together with 208 House Democrats to oust McCarthy (R-Calif.)
Gaetz had warned McCarthy he’d forge ahead with a motion to vacate the chair if the then-speaker put up a CR for a vote. Lacking options to avert a shutdown, McCarthy did so and was ousted. He has since accused Gaetz of plotting against him for personal reasons.
Republicans spent almost a month struggling to produce a new speaker and McCarthy later resigned from the lower chamber. Johnson overcame a similar motion to oust him from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in April after he wrangled through replenished aid to war-torn Ukraine with the help of Democrats.
Other agenda items
Congress is scheduled to break again beginning Sept. 27 as lawmakers gear up for the homestretch of their re-election campaigns.
During the next three weeks, the lower chamber is looking to take up high-profile legislation related to China and border security.
Lawmakers are also expected to rev up their investigations during their brief time back in the nation’s capital, with Republicans likely to turn up the heat on Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
House leadership has also convened a bipartisan task force to investigate the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
