What took place in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night was a show vote of a different kind.
vote Showed Republicans opposed a combination bill that would avert a government shutdown and require people to prove they are citizens in order to vote, known as the SAVE Act.
“You have to be accountable for your vote,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who has proposed a two-step strategy to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. “I have no problem with my vote or what I stand for or what I'm trying to accomplish for the American people.”
The vote is also Showed Republicans alone cannot move forward with something like a spending bill. The votes are Showed Longstanding divisions in the House Republican Conference. Some Republicans voted against the bill for a variety of reasons. Some are opposed to stopgap spending bills, known as “continuing resolutions” or “CRs,” in the first place. Others are opposed to attaching a citizenship/voting requirement to such a bill. Some believe there is no way to implement a citizenship requirement to vote before an election.
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It's a math problem, and the vote tally revealed that Johnson had very little to show for his work.
Johnson's plan was defeated 220-202. Fourteen Republicans voted against it. Two Republicans abstained, and two Democrats voted in favor.
And vote Showed The only way to avoid a government shutdown on October 1 is for Republicans to work with Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is preparing a stopgap spending bill that has bipartisan support. The Senate is likely to adopt the bill and then offer it to the House for acceptance or rejection.
Wednesday night's vote Showed Former President Trump is trying to force a government shutdown. He posted on TruthSocial: “If Republicans can't understand the SAVE Act and all that, they should not agree to any form of continuing resolution.” Trump accused Democrats of “registering tens of thousands of illegal voters.” He also warned that Republicans have “been pushed around by the Democrats for long enough.”
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks at a rally, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Uniondale, New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Rep. Corey Mills, R-Fla., wants to cut spending, but this bill doesn't accomplish that, instead extending existing funding until late March. Mills also questioned whether it would be feasible to put the citizenship provisions into effect before November 5. I asked Mills if Johnson made a “mistake” in forcing this vote.
“I think so. I think what we need to do now is watch as these policy riders, these attempts to so-called 'obstruct the Senate,' continue to fail,” Mills said. “I'm disappointed in how the 118th Congress has handled this entire session.”
Although Roy supported the chairman's strategy, he was in a less favorable position than Mills.
“We will end up with CR continuing till December because some people have tried to force this through, they have spoken on Twitter, they have descended on the floor and puffed themselves up that they have somehow found the magic solution, but they have literally not proposed any solution,” Roy said.
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This was another “show” vote for Georgia Republican Senator Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was one of two Republicans to vote “no” on the bill, which to her represented a victory for Johnson. Showing Despite Johnson knowing pretty well that the bill would collapse, he remains skeptical about what to do next. Greene opposes Johnson's next move, which would be to avert a government shutdown with Democratic support.
“I think a lot of us expected him to do that all along. You set expectations based on how he's behaved in the past, and that's what he's been behaving in the past,” Green said.
Green knows what he's talking about.
Congress has voted on six omnibus, or “omnibus,” spending bills since Sept. 30 of last year, most of them under Johnson's auspices. That's why some, like Greene, are so unimpressed with Johnson — the same strategy that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, implemented last year.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene listens to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's testimony during a House Select Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on COVID-19, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Perhaps his vote to avert a government shutdown last fall was the ultimate show vote: Shortly after the count, House Republicans “ousted” McCarthy.
Republican Sen. Warren Davidson of Ohio has criticized Johnson's chairmanship. But he called Johnson's decision to force the vote on the CR “wise.” He lamented, however, that Republicans were not willing to go all out on the issue. He suggested that other senators were involved in “signaling” their position on the issue.
“I'm disappointed that there are what I informally call the surrender faction — I haven't officially decided who that is — but it's a bunch of bedwetters who won't fight for anything and a bunch of purists who won't fight for anything unless it's perfect,” Davidson said. “In the end, we're going to continue to make deals with Democrats and everything Congress funds will be tilted left. I think we're going to surrender again now with empty promises to fight later.”
“This is a complete failure of the speaker's strategy. Again, we weren't here all of August. We could have gotten 12 separate budget bills done,” Greene said.
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But House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Johnson's actions since last fall were Showed That told him something. As Green noted, Cole looked at Johnson's track record. And that track record Showed Prime Minister Johnson has no interest in shutting down the government.
“If he wanted to shut down the government, he's had multiple opportunities to do so since he became speaker. He's never allowed it, and I don't think he ever will,” Cole said.
“We ran the play. It was the best play. It was the right play. So now we're going to go back to the playbook, drop another play and find a solution,” Johnson said after Wednesday's vote was defeated.
So it's a dead end. But Johnson show He has a really great new play, but if his members weren't enthralled by the first, why is it that the second will be any better? There is an early stage of a short bill running until mid-December.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the other Republican who voted “yes” on Johnson's original bill, which he believed from the start was a “sham vote.”
“It was a fake bar fight with balsa wood chairs and sugar bottles,” Massey said. “I was at the bar watching both sides act.”
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At some point next week, the Senate will likely skip the congressional process for a stopgap spending bill that would last into the late fall or early winter. Provisions about vote requirements will be abandoned along the way. The Senate will likely show The House of Representatives said it could pass the spending bill despite concerns from some Republicans, after which the chamber would have to decide whether to approve it or shut down the government just before the election.
This is likely to be the last vote in Congress before the election, a shutdown is averted, and there will be very little left in the House of Representatives, despite the political maneuvering. show for that.
