Speaker Johnson sticks to government funding plan despite GOP opposition

WASHINGTON — Despite mounting opposition from his own party, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., vowed Tuesday to stay the course and put his government funding package on the House floor on Wednesday.

His initial strategy to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month is expected to fail and deal House Republicans an embarrassing blow. Due to their paper-thin majority, Republicans can afford only a handful of GOP defections on the vote, and many more than that have publicly voiced their opposition.

But the party’s standard bearer, Donald Trump, has called on Johnson and Republicans to shut down the government if they can’t link a funding bill to the SAVE Act, which would overhaul voting laws to require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Johnson has done just that, even though that plan is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, faces a veto threat from the White House and likely won’t even get out of the House. Democrats and some Republicans want a “clean” continuing resolution or CR, keeping the government’s lights on until December, past the election.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with Republicans on Tuesday, Johnson wouldn’t say whether he was willing to heed Trump’s suggestion and shut down the government over the voting legislation, but he aggressively defended his play call, a six-month CR that would fund the government through March and is tied to the SAVE Act.

“I am in this to win this,” Johnson told reporters at his weekly news conference.

Afterward, the speaker added: “We are going to put the SAVE Act and the CR together, and we’re going to move that through the process. And I am resolved to that; we’re not looking at any other alternative. … I think almost 90% of the American people believe in that principle and that’s why we’re going to stand and fight.”

“You know how I operate: You do the right thing and you let the chips fall where they may,” he said.

The first test will come later Tuesday when the House is expected to hold a vote on the rule that will dictate debate time and how the CR comes to the floor.

It’s unclear, however, how Johnson and his leadership team get rebellious members back in line. Republicans can afford only four GOP defections if all lawmakers vote, and at least a half dozen Republicans — including Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana, Cory Mills of Florida and Matt Rosendale of Montana — have vowed to vote no.

Mills argued this week that passing the SAVE Act and a CR will do nothing to secure the southern border with Mexico and rein in government spending.

Leaving the morning GOP meeting, Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., said it didn’t appear that any minds had been changed in the room, but he stood by the speaker’s plan, suggesting extending funding into early 2025 would avoid a package loaded up with legislative goodies and jammed through right before the holidays.

“By doing a CR into December gives us really no advantage, frankly, from a Republican standpoint, to bring any responsibility to a budget,” Meuser said. “We know that in December, if we were writing something, it would be more than a Christmas tree — it would be lots of gifts underneath it. So we’re gonna hold fast.”

Some Senate Republicans are leery of their House colleagues picking a fight that could spark a government shutdown so close to the election.

“Shutdowns always backfire on Republicans,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he doesn’t want to see a stopgap bill into next year. “I’m always a big believer — let the new Congress start with a clean slate. So my bias would be to get it done now,” Cassidy told reporters.