The House and Senate are out this week. President Joe Biden is back in Washington. He will head to Wisconsin on Thursday and Michigan on Friday. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in New Hampshire on Wednesday and then travel to Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Let’s talk about government funding and the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. As we scooped for you in Monday’s AM edition, Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to put a short-term funding bill on the floor next week that keeps federal agencies open until March at Fiscal Responsibility Act levels minus the “side deals” worked out between Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
And in a nod to former President Donald Trump and the House Freedom Caucus, Johnson will attach the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in a federal election. This bill — authored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) — passed the House with five Democratic votes back in July.
We told you that would be a non-starter for Democrats and the White House. Today we’ll spell out why it’s DOA in the Senate — if it ever gets that far.
Senior House and Senate Democrats say the funding level proposed by Johnson and House GOP leaders — Fiscal Responsibility Act minus side deals — is inadequate. They’ve opposed all the FY2025 funding bills that House Republicans have pushed through the chamber at that level, arguing that these proposed measures are billions of dollars short of the agreed-upon funding levels.
The SAVE Act is also a huge problem for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has refused to take it up, and Democrats dismiss it as a “scare tactic.” It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections and there’s no evidence that it’s a problem.
Here’s Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, on Johnson’s CR plan:
And here’s Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.):
And Schumer: “As we have said each time we’ve had a CR, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way and that is what has happened every time.”
So it’s clear that Johnson’s plan isn’t going to go anywhere even if the Republican leadership can successfully jam it through the House, which isn’t guaranteed at this point.
Roy is already preparing to blame Democrats if it can’t get through this House. This is how the Texas Republican responded to our Monday scoop about Johnson’s plan.
However, the overwhelming Democratic opposition makes it much more likely that any CR that’s eventually enacted will follow a traditional pattern for an election year. Meaning it will extend into early December, leaving both sides to hammer out an agreement on an omnibus package — or multiple minibuses — during the lame-duck session. In this case, there will be a new president coming into office, so there will be lots of focus on staffing up their new administration.
The good news for Johnson here is that he has enough time for Plan B on a CR if and when this effort fails to come together.
– John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio
