House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) spending bill did not pass on Wednesday after fourteen Republican lawmakers voted against it.
The GOP dissidents joined nearly every Democrat in Congress in an effort to thwart a bill that would have temporarily funded the government for another six months.
Two other Republican opponents to the measure, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), voted present, resulting in a 202-220 vote.
Last week, Johnson withdrew the continuing resolution (CR) — which included the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which would mandate states to require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections — after members of his party, including Massie and Greene, threatened to block the measure.
On Tuesday, Johnson announced his new plan to put the temporary funding bill to a vote before the Oct. 1 deadline, thereby thwarting a government shutdown if it had passed.
“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government, and ensure the security of our elections,” he wrote in an X post. “Because we owe this to our constituents, we will move forward on Wednesday with a vote on the 6-month CR with the SAVE Act attached.”
“I urge all of my colleagues to do what the overwhelming majority of the people of this county rightfully demand and deserve - prevent non-American citizens from voting in American elections,” Johnson added.
Former President Donald Trump also attempted to rally Republican support behind the bill hours before the vote.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” he said on Truth Social. “BE SMART, REPUBLICANS, YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED AROUND LONG ENOUGH BY THE DEMOCRATS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN.”
“The Speaker faced a troika of GOP opposition, with hardline conservatives criticizing the use of a continuing resolution; defense hawks voicing concern about the impact the long-term funding bill would have at the Pentagon; and moderates expressing worries about having a shutdown threat so close to the election,” The Hill reports.
“I look at the spending, and I think that’s one of the largest issues that we have in our country, is $36 trillion in debt, and I look at a bill that’s continuing the excessive spending,” said Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), according to the outlet.
Van Duyne echoed sentiments expressed by Massie and Greene earlier this week.
“Like an undead but doomed zombie, the CR+Save Act is back,” Massie said. “Speaker Johnson is fake fighting by attaching a bright shiny object (that he will later abandon) to a bill that continues our path of destructive spending. I won’t be any part of this insulting charade. I’m a hell no.”
In a long post, Greene accused Johnson of running a “classic bait and switch that will enrage the base.”
“The only way to make the SAVE Act a law would be to refuse to pass a CR until the Senate agrees to pass the SAVE Act and Biden agrees to sign it into law,” she continued. “This would force a Gov shutdown on Oct 1 because Biden and Schumer both said they will shutdown the government as they are that adamant against the SAVE Act.”
If the temporary funding bill had passed, President Joe Biden already pledged to veto the measure.
“Instead of working in a bipartisan manner to keep the Government open and provide emergency funding for disaster needs, House Republicans have chosen brinksmanship,” he said in a Sept. 9 statement, referring to the SAVE Act as an “unnecessary … unrelated cynical legislation that would do nothing to safeguard our elections, but would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls."
Editor’s Note: A new version of this article revised one sentence to clarify that Massie and Greene were the only Republican lawmakers to vote “present.”
