House Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to avert a partial government shutdown failed Wednesday.
The bill failed 202-220, with only two Republicans voting “yes,” Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
At least nine Republicans voted against a House GOP leadership bill that would have extended the current federal budget by six months and required proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Three Democrats voted in favor of the bill: Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), Rep. Marie Grusenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), and Rep. Don Davis (D-County).
The bill began to lose support almost immediately after Johnson announced it on a conference call with House Republicans earlier this month, disappointing the majority of House Republicans.
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Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Getty Images/AP)
Many Republicans oppose the temporary spending cuts, known as continuing resolutions (CRs), in principle, believing they unnecessarily expand government.
National security hardliners expressed concern about the impact a six-month budget extension would have on military readiness without additional funding to meet the rising costs.
The discord has caused tensions within House Republicans.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a vocal supporter of the bill and author of the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, said of Republicans: “If you have colleagues who are opposed to this plan, I urge you to come up with a better plan that will mobilize Republicans, get it passed, and unite them to beat the Democrats.”
“You don't predict failure and then cause it to happen, and unfortunately, I have some friends who are doing exactly that,” Roy said on Steve Bannon's “War Room” show.
Allies of Johnson also say the plan would be a strong opening shot in negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate over government funding, and Johnson himself has repeatedly said the SAVE Act is worth fighting for.
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Rep. Chip Roy has been one of Johnson's strongest supporters of the plan. (Getty Images)
Republican and Democratic leaders both acknowledge the CR is needed to give congressional negotiators time to hammer out fiscal 2025 priorities beyond the Oct. 1 deadline.
But Democrats want a “clean” CR without conservative policy provisions, and leading senators from both parties have argued that a CR until December is the best bet, to allow Congress to reassess it after the election.
Johnson has repeatedly insisted there is no “Plan B” after Wednesday's vote, and two sources told Fox News Digital he told Republican lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday morning.
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But with his initial plan defeated, Johnson now finds himself caught between two warring factions of the Republican Party: those who want him to use the partial government shutdown to his advantage, and those who are reluctant to acknowledge that House Republicans have no choice but to pass a “clean” amendment before December.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who initially supported a six-month CR plus SAVE Act, recently argued that Republican lawmakers should shut down the government unless they could get “absolute assurances about the security of our elections.”
Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, September 17, 2024. (Jeff Kowalski/AFP via Getty Images)
But most Republicans acknowledge publicly and privately that a government shutdown just weeks before Election Day would leave them battling public anger.
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“There will not be a government shutdown,” Rep. Mike Lawler, D-New York, told reporters on Wednesday morning.
Asked directly about Trump's claims, Lawler said, “I'm not going to shut down the government. My colleagues aren't going to shut down the government.”
