Divided House GOP struggles to avoid a government shutdown

WASHINGTON — Divided House Republicans stumbled last week in their effort to pass Speaker Mike Johnson’s bill to fund the government.

They’ll take another crack at a stopgap funding measure this week with just 15 days remaining until money runs out — and growing concerns about a federal government shutdown, including among top Republicans who worry about the political fallout for their party so close to the Nov. 5 election.

“A government shutdown is always a bad idea, at any time,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.

Johnson, R-La., is “going to have to get the votes — and he’s in the majority, so he’s got to figure out what the right combination is,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “It’s sort of like a Rubik’s Cube.”

Cornyn, who is running to be the next Senate GOP leader, didn’t express a preference on the length or details of a stopgap bill, saying only: “I’m for keeping the lights on. That would be my main goal.”

Johnson worked through the weekend, reaching out to various factions in his 220-member GOP conference and trying to find a path forward on a short-term funding bill before the government shuts down at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 1. The speaker’s initial strategy had called for a six-month continuing resolution (CR) tied to the SAVE Act, legislation backed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump requiring proof of citizenship to vote.

But Johnson and the whip team couldn’t muster the GOP votes needed to pass that package, and the speaker abruptly yanked the bill off the floor on Wednesday just hours before a scheduled vote.

In an interview on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Monday morning, Johnson said Republicans "have a responsibility to fund the government, and we have a responsibility to ensure that the upcoming election is safe, fair and secure. And so I attached the SAVE Act to the CR and we’re working through having family conversations about the best route to get all that done. I’m optimistic we can do both things, and we have a duty to do it.”

Johnson’s task is complicated by Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, both egging on a fight that could lead to a government shutdown.

The House bill’s six-month time frame, while favored by conservatives, is opposed by some senior Republicans.

Some conservative hard-liners said they were adamantly opposed to supporting any CRs, while powerful Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said he wouldn’t back the CR because it would halt increases in Pentagon funding for half a year.

It’s unclear whether Johnson this week will try to tweak the SAVE Act approach or try something entirely different.

“We’re working through all the options right now, but we’re fiercely committed to the SAVE Act,” Johnson told NBC News last week as lawmakers prepared to leave the Capitol.

President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats, as well as some Republicans, are pushing for a shorter-term bill, with nothing attached, that funds the government at current levels into December. That would give Congress the opportunity to finalize a funding deal in the lame duck session, with the goal of leaving a clean slate for the next president and avoiding another funding crisis early next year.

“We need a bipartisan bill where everyone comes together and figures out what to do,” Schumer told reporters last week. “You’ve seen the chaos in the House because Speaker Johnson is trying to do this in a partisan way, guided by the far right — he’s not getting anywhere.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., the first Republican to publicly state his opposition to a CR, said Johnson might be able to push a GOP bill through the lower chamber, but it’s “never going to become law” because Democrats control the Senate.

“It’s theater!” Massie said.

While the House is expected to act first, the Senate may be pressured to step in if Johnson and his caucus remain in a standoff for much longer.

Republicans see the SAVE Act as a mechanism to try to force politically vulnerable Democrats into a difficult position. But that tactic is less potent when it comes with the threat of a shutdown.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who’s running for re-election in a state that could decide control of the Senate, said he supports the bill as a stand-alone.

“I don’t think it should be on the appropriations bill. It just mucks things up,” Tester said. “Take it to the floor and debate it. I’ll vote for it. Even though it’s not necessary. It’s already illegal” for noncitizens to vote, he added.