Mike Johnson’s spending plan is already in trouble. It was doomed in the Senate from the start, but now there are fresh doubts that he can even get it through the House.
The speaker announced last week that he planned to link a government funding bill to legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote. The package would keep spending levels mostly steady, punting a government shutdown deadline currently set to hit on Oct. 1 to March 28.
Johnson wants to hold a House vote Wednesday on that bill, hoping to give conservatives a symbolic pre-election win even if Senate Democrats tank it after. But the GOP leader is facing two pockets of intra-party resistance.
First, there are conservatives who oppose short-term spending bills on principle and are unconvinced by the citizenship add on. Plus, some defense-hawks are worried the six-month stopgap bill would have a negative impact on the Pentagon, after defense officials said as much over the weekend.
Johnson can afford to lose four Republicans, assuming full House attendance, before he’ll need Democratic help to clear the stopgap bill, known as a continuing resolution or a CR. So far, he’s got at least six GOP “no” votes.
Reps. Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Jim Banks (Ind.) Mike Rogers (Ala.) and Cory Mills (Fla.) told reporters on Monday that they currently oppose the plan — joining Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), who had already announced their opposition.
“I’ve never supported a CR,” Mills said, adding that there are “quite a few” Republicans who are opposed to Johnson’s plan.
More Republicans could join their ranks, according to interviews with more than a dozen GOP lawmakers. Several said on Monday that they are still on the fence. That includes Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Keith Self (R-Texas), Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), and Majorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
Other Republicans who are undecided, such as Reps. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), indicated they don’t want to support a CR but that they like the non-citizen voting bill attached to it.
Johnson could get a tiny bit more wiggle room if Democrats have absences. But he’ll likely have some convincing to do if he hopes to pass the bill through the House, which many Republicans saw as an opening offer to the Senate. If it can’t even clear the lower chamber, Democrats will feel even more emboldened to push through their plan, a more straightforward CR that kicks a shutdown deadline into mid-December — setting up another year-end spending fight.
A broad swath of Republicans acknowledge that Congress will ultimately need to pass a clean short-term bill in order to avoid a shutdown starting on Oct. 1. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats have vowed they won’t support the House GOP plan. President Joe Biden has also threatened to veto it, should it somehow reach his desk.
Some Republicans are opening the door to a clean spending extension, one without the non-citizen voting bill, that goes until March. But even some GOP lawmakers admit it’s unlikely that they will be able to get Democrats to agree to that.
Johnson met with his leadership team Monday, where he sidestepped questions about his ultimate endgame. He mainly said that his goal was to bring this vote to the floor, two people familiar with the meeting told POLITICO, granted anonymity to reveal private discussions.
“We did not discuss any contingency plans,” Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) told reporters as she left the leadership meeting.
And though a handful of Democrats previously supported the non-citizen voting bill, they are under fierce pressure to oppose it now that it’s attached to the CR. Democrats are also shooting down the idea of even a clean CR into March.
“My view is that we ought to go to mid-December. We should not carry this over until next year,” said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top House Democratic appropriator.
Daniella Diaz contributed reporting.
