President Johnson overturns Trump voting rules in government funding bill

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday announced a new interim government funding proposal with key changes from the original bill he introduced earlier this month, going against the wishes of former President Donald Trump and making some concessions to Democrats.

The new bill would fund the government until December 20 and does not include any part of it SAVE Lawthe Trump-backed voter security proposal, which would require people to show citizenship to register as voters;

In a letter to colleagues on Sunday, Johnson said the “very narrow, bare-bones” proposal would include “only the extensions that are absolutely necessary” to avoid a government shutdown.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats have eight days to reach an agreement on government funding. If no resolution is reached, the government will go into a partial shutdown on October 1st at 12:01 am. ET, just over a month before the November elections, when party control will be up for grabs in both the White House and Congress.

“While this is not the solution that any of us prefer, it is the most prudent course forward under the current circumstances,” Johnson wrote in the letter. “As history has taught and current polling confirms, shutting down the government less than 40 days after a fatal election would be an act of political malpractice.”

The new bill will likely reach the House floor by Wednesday, according to House Republican aides.

The three-month spending plan also includes $231 million for the Secret Service, responding to growing pressure from the agency for more resources after another apparent assassination attempt against Trump last Sunday.

An earlier version of Johnson’s bill would have funded the government through March 2025, meaning funding levels would have already been set for the president-elect and Congress. It also comes with the SAVE Act attached.

Trump preferred this iteration of the spending resolution. Write it up Truly Social earlier this month that if Republicans “don’t get absolute assurances about election security,” they shouldn’t hesitate to shut down the government.

But the six-month funding bill in conjunction with the SAVE Act has struggled to take off within the House Republican caucus. Some GOP members were against any idea of ​​funding the government on a temporary basis. Others took issue with specific funding allocations, which would have been set for six months if the bill passed.

With a slim majority in the House, Johnson could only afford to lose four GOP votes to pass the bill in his own chamber.

“Since we have fallen just short of the finish line, an alternative plan is now required,” Johnson wrote to his colleagues in Sunday’s letter.

Democrats also vowed to vote against the six-month bill in conjunction with the SAVE Act. That meant the proposal would be dead on arrival in the Democratic-majority Senate.

By repealing the SAVE Act and introducing a three-month bill, Johnson’s new funding proposal reflects key compromises with Democrats.

President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both had he argued for a shorter-term proposal without bills so that in January, the newly elected governing body can start with a blank slate.

Schumer welcomed the changes by the speaker of the House.

“We actually now have some good news,” Schumer said at a news conference Sunday, noting that a government shutdown would likely be avoided.

“Now that the MAGA GOP bill has failed, it’s clear that only a bipartisan budget bill will keep the government open,” he added. “That fiery red knot that MAGA has tied around the GOP has been loosened.”

Johnson’s concessions to Democrats could be projected over his speech. His predecessor, former California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, became the first House speaker to be removed from office after striking a deal with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown in October 2023.