House Speaker Johnson Calls Off Funding Vote Amid GOP divisions

House Speaker Mike Johnson has on Wednseday, 11th of September, 2024 called off a vote to pass a six-month government funding plan.

“No vote today,” Johnson told reporters just hours ahead of the scheduled vote on the bill, which included a controversial measure that targets noncitizen voting. “We are having thoughtful conversations, family conversations within the Republican Conference and I believe we will get there.”

According to CNN, the decision to pull the vote once again highlights the deep internal divisions within the House GOP conference and the major challenge facing the speaker as he attempts to navigate an extremely narrow majority as well as demands from former President Donald Trump.

Johnson said in announcing that the vote would be pulled, “I want any member of Congress in either party to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only US citizens are voting in US elections … It’s the most pressing issue right now, and we’re going to get this job done.”

The House had been slated to vote on Wednesday on the six-month government funding bill that included the voting measure. But at least eight House Republicans have already come out against the funding bill, which is enough to sink it in the House along with Democratic opposition, and the bill is considered dead-on-arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The Biden administration has also said the president would veto the measure.

If the GOP funding plan cannot pass the House, it would be a major embarrassment for the House GOP and would send Republicans scrambling to determine next steps as a government shutdown deadline looms at the end of the month. But Johnson might need to show that the GOP funding plan does not have the votes to pass to have political cover to then move on to a “clean” funding measure that does not include the controversial voting measure. The expectation on Capitol Hill is that scenario is the most likely path to avert a shutdown with support from Democrats.