The House on Wednesday defeated a $1.6 trillion stopgap spending bill to extend current government funding into March and impose new proof-of-citizenship requirements on voter registration, as Republicans and Democrats alike rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal to avert a shutdown at the end of the month.
The bipartisan repudiation was entirely expected after several Republicans had made clear they would not back the spending plan and Democrats almost uniformly opposed the voting-registration proposal.
Even with a Sept. 30 deadline approaching to fund the government, Mr. Johnson had pulled the plug on the vote last week as it became clear that his plan would not have the necessary support. But the speaker, under pressure from former President Donald J. Trump and the hard right to insist on the proposal, plunged ahead on Wednesday anyway, working to show members of his party that he was willing to fight for their principles.
“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government and ensure the security of our elections,” said Mr. Johnson, who has made the voting registration bill a personal crusade.
The measure failed on a vote of 220-202, with 14 Republicans joining all but three Democrats in opposition and two Republicans voting “present.”
In the hours before the vote, Mr. Trump posted on social media that if Republicans did not get “every ounce” of the citizenship verification bill, they should not agree to a measure to keep government funding flowing “in any way, shape, or form.” He charged, baselessly, that Democrats were “registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak,” adding, “They will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
There is no evidence of that happening, and state audits and data compiled by groups across the political spectrum have found no indication that noncitizens are voting in large numbers.
After the failed vote on Wednesday, lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol noted that by the odd logic of a dysfunctional Congress, the defeat of Mr. Johnson’s initial funding plan could lead to a breakthrough. Democrats and Republicans expressed hope that it would open the door to a shorter-term spending patch, free of the voting measure, that could pass both the House and Senate in time to prevent the shutdown that would otherwise take hold by Oct. 1.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, said the rejection of Mr. Johnson’s plan by the House made “clear that he’s running into a dead end. We must have a bipartisan — a bipartisan — plan instead.”
Senators in both parties support extending funding only into mid-December, allowing them time to try to reach a long-term deal on spending bills to run through September 2025.
They maintain that the longer-term legislation the speaker has pushed would shortchange the military and national security by not adjusting spending to meet current events. Congress is also being called on to replenish drained disaster relief money, fill a multibillion-dollar shortfall to keep benefits flowing to veterans and potentially adjust funding for the Secret Service to ensure the agency is funded in the run-up to the November election after two assassination attempts on Mr. Trump.
The outcome of the election and which party ends up controlling the White House and Congress will also influence how the House and Senate approach spending issues after the election.
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