The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus has signaled it won’t help Congress avoid a government shutdown next month unless a short-term spending bill is tied to a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
House Republican insurrectionists are also calling for the short-term spending plan to be extended until the new year, at which point allies of former President Trump hope he will return to the White House.
That puts the group at odds with more traditional Republican colleagues, including House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.), who last month suggested he wants to finish the government funding process by the end of 2024.
With only six of the 12 individual budget bills having passed the House of Representatives and none yet in the Senate, it is almost certain that a short-term extension of current year budget levels will be needed to keep the government afloat past the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
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The House Freedom Caucus is already planning to undermine House Republican leadership’s budget negotiations. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Even senior Republicans like Cole acknowledge that a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is needed to avoid a federal shutdown and the layoffs of thousands of federal workers. But the House Freedom Caucus statement on Monday morning, released as lawmakers were in the midst of a six-week recess in Washington, marks the start of a messy fight over finances.
In a new statement obtained by Fox News Digital, the House Freedom Caucus said, “House Republicans should return to Washington and continue their work to pass all 12 appropriations bills to cut spending and advance their policy priorities… If that fails, government funding should be extended until early 2025 to avoid a lame-duck omnibus bill that would preserve Democratic spending and policies into the next administration, with Congress inevitably considering a continuing resolution.”
“Furthermore, given that the Biden-Harris Administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country, the continuing resolution should include the SAVE Act, as President Trump has called for, to prevent non-citizens from voting and uphold free and fair elections.”
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House Republican insurgents are pushing to extend the short-term spending plan into the new year, at which point allies of former President Trump hope he will return to the White House. (Joe Raedl/Getty Images)
The House of Representatives passed the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act last month with the support of five Democrats and all Republicans.
But the White House is opposed to it, and it would likely not get a vote in the Democratic-controlled Senate, so including it in the final CR would be an uphill battle.
Cole told reporters last month that he would like to see the CR include additions that would be broadly acceptable to bipartisans, such as additional funding for disaster relief.
“I haven’t really thought about it yet, and it’s not a big deal to me, but if it doesn’t pass the Senate, it’s not going to be effective disaster relief legislation,” Cole said when asked about the SAVE Act. “I’m more interested in disaster relief legislation than true disaster relief legislation. I think this is an issue that both sides can work on.”
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The 118th Congress has seen historic levels of discord over government spending issues, with Republican insurgents forcing House GOP leadership to choose between using their slim majority to push through conservative policy priorities or risk a shutdown.
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But leaders of both parties have signaled they want to avoid the political fallout of a government shutdown, especially with the November elections approaching.
In last year’s spending fight, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who helped pass a “clean” short-term budget extension bill last September, was ousted by several of his Republican colleagues.
