House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is pushing ahead with a vote on the six-month spending bill Wednesday night, despite the expected defeat.
During the August recess, Johnson announced he would combine a six-month continuing resolution with the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, in part to appease conservatives who oppose continuing resolutions in principle.
However, upon returning to Washington, D.C., the Speaker appeared to be caught off guard by opposition from several quarters within the House Republican Conference, including conservatives, and ended up postponing the originally scheduled vote for a week.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) has publicly opposed the bill, arguing it would harm defense spending, and other defense hardliners are expected to follow suit. A few senators opposed bundling the SAVE Act with a spending bill. Several members of the House Appropriations Committee opposed the six-month period and preferred a three-month bill, which would give appropriators and Democrats an opportunity to pass a large omnibus bill during the lame-duck session of Congress.
Conservatives also opposed the continuation of spending levels and priorities that they never approved in the first place.
While a standalone SAVE Act passed the House this summer with the support of five Democrats, no senators are expected to back the spending bill, meaning Johnson will have to exert pressure from within his own party to find the votes.
Johnson has not shown any inclination for that particular skill. And on the other side of Congress, the Senate is preparing to jam up the House with a three-month continuing resolution.
Johnson met with Republican budget leaders on Tuesday, and the group appears united in supporting the bill.
But because the failed vote has become a fait accompli, apportioners can support the bill without risking it passing.
Mr Johnson has set himself apart from past speakers by showing a penchant for withholding votes he knows will be defeated, bringing his parliamentary defeat tally dangerously close to double digits in less than a year.
But the only vote Johnson did not allow in Parliament came in the spring, during the row over aid to Ukraine.
In April, Johnson backed away from a months-long pledge that he would not move forward with foreign aid unless America's borders were first secured. He inexplicably refused to attach a border bill to the Ukraine aid, insisting it would not pass.
The path to funding the government by a deadline at the end of this month is narrowing: Johnson may need to pass a short-term continuing resolution again under suspension of the rules — perhaps a three-month Senate bill — which Democrats overwhelmingly support by two-thirds to pass.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translation:.
