Last Updated on 04/09/2024 by Arun jain
Almost 11 months have passed since the historic ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October 2023. Now, his successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is navigating the same fraught political web over government funding that was one of McCarthy’s “final.” struggles” – but it is not yet clear whether he will meet the same fate.
House Republicans are huddling for a conference-wide call on Wednesday, when Johnson is expected to release his plan to avoid a government shutdown by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
scheme, supported by Former President Donald Trump, That would extend the current fiscal year’s government funding level through March and be tied to a GOP bill requiring proof of citizenship to be part of the voter registration process, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.
However, at least three House Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital would not commit to voting for such a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR). Meanwhile, others questioned the wisdom of spending a few weeks in session before Election Day on a bill virtually certain to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Most conservatives and Trump’s allies in the House, however, strongly support the plan.
“Certainly conservatives, spending hawks, frankly any Republican who doesn’t want to give the pen in December to the Democrats or kind of…one party, so we want to spend in the new year,” Rap. Chip Roy, R-Texasexplained Fox News Digital. “Certainly kicking it up to March gives us that advantage. And then we should have a strong fight whether or not it should be clear that only citizens are voting.
Five Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act earlier this year, but it has since stalled in the Senate. Even the White House is protesting.
Roy, however, was also part of last year’s doomed effort to pass a conservative CR attached to House Republicans’ marquee border security bill — which was similarly panned by Democratic leaders.
That CR failed in late September when 21 Republicans, mainly opposed to the CR on principle, voted against it.
McCarthy then received an Oct. 1 was forced to put a “clean” funding extension on the House floor hours before a partial government shutdown, which was later the public catalyst for his ouster by eight fellow House Republicans.
When asked if he was worried about history repeating itself, Roy said, “Last year, I had good friends who fell on both sides of that divide. But I think there is one significant difference, and that is President Trump has publicly called us to fight.
Trump urged House Republicans Take advantage of the shutdown To get CR with the SAVE Act passed on Monica Crowley’s podcast earlier this week.
Additionally, with November’s House races expected to approach in many key districts, these weeks could be Republicans’ last chance to try to push through conservative priorities before Democrats potentially win back control of the chamber.
However, the possibility of a government shutdown right before Election Day could put those same vulnerable Republicans in a tight spot, with slim chances of it being carried by the Senate or the White House.
“Whether it passes the House or not is irrelevant and those who are pushing for SAVE know that. Or maybe they don’t. I’m not sure which is worse,” a senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital.
However, Roy indicated that he was not concerned about a possible shutdown, arguing that his constituents “don’t give two flyings” about the politics of government funding.
Rap. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., similarly said, “I’m concerned about a stolen election … the legacy media is making this shutdown worse than it is.”
Meanwhile, like last year’s conservative CR, it’s not clear there will be enough support even within the GOP to pass this spending patch.
Rap. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., a member of the House Freedom Caucus in his final term, who voted for both last year’s conservative CR and McCarthy’s ouster, is already against the plan.
“It’s dishonest and disingenuous to even do that, because there’s nobody in Congress who believes that by combining the SAVE Act with a CR…we’re going to get the SAVE Act passed,” Rosendale, who has never supported a CR, told Fox News Digital.
He also said the play violates House GOP leaders’ commitment to single-issue legislation.
However, he would not say whether he would support Johnson’s ouster over it.
“I think people keep doing the same thing, hoping they’ll get different results, because there are different people doing it,” Rosendale said.
When pressed several times on Johnson, Rosendale said, “There’s a lot of people you can go to, they’re more than happy to comment about other members and about the leadership. I just know what I’m going to do.”
Burchett, another anti-McCarthy rebel, said he would “lean toward supporting” the CR but would not commit.
He said, however, that Johnson was not in danger of being ousted, adding that “there was a lot of other stuff going on” before “one of the final struggles” over spending in the McCarthy case.
McCarthy did not make himself available for an interview when asked by Fox News Digital. Johnson’s office also would not comment on the record about Cr.
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