Members of Congress may not agree on much, but they all have the same agenda, and they all know what’s happening in 11 days: The deadline for a government shutdown is midnight on Monday, September 30. House Speaker Mike Johnson has a bill he likes that would, in theory at least, keep the government shut down.
He just can’t get it through the chamber, which is controlled by his own party. NBC News reported:
House Republicans on Wednesday rejected their own plan to avert a month-end government shutdown, with the party divided over the length of a short-term funding bill and what, if anything, should be attached to it. It was an embarrassing blow for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who had pulled the same funding package from the floor last week amid mounting GOP defections, only to see it collapse Wednesday in a vote that seemed doomed from the start.
The final vote was 202 to 220. Three Democrats in competitive districts voted in favor of the bill; 14 Republicans broke party lines, and two far-right Republicans voted present.
The struggling House Speaker has reportedly told his colleagues that he has some sort of backup plan, but he has yet to tell anyone what that plan is.
Let’s go back in time for a moment and look back at how we got to this point.
As summer approached, Johnson had a plan: Congress would pass a series of budget bills that would fund the government through the next fiscal year before lawmakers recessed in August. That plan collapsed in July when the Republican leader’s own members opposed it.
When delegates returned to Capitol Hill after Labor Day, Johnson unveiled a new plan: The Republican-led House would pass a six-month temporary measure — a so-called “continuing resolution” (or “CR”) — that included a number of spending cuts and, at Donald Trump’s urging, a far-right election plan called the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The beleaguered House Speaker announced that members would vote on the legislation last Wednesday, until Johnson realized that too many of his party members hated the bill, forcing him to embarrassingly withdraw his own bill.
At that point, common sense suggested the Louisiana Republican needed a new plan. Instead, he said he would try again with the same bill.
When asked if he understood why Johnson did this, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: told Axios before the vote: “I have no idea.” The New York Democrat was not alone.
“I don’t know how he thinks it’s going to work… where are the votes going to come from?” Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas said“There’s an old saying in Arkansas that you never learn anything the second you get kicked in the head by a mule,” added Republican Rep. Steve Womack.
Shortly thereafter, the bill was indeed defeated. The vote was not exactly close.
So what happens now? No one seems to have any idea what Johnson and the GOP leadership team will do next. If the Louisiana Republican continues to insist on pushing a far-right budget bill, full of radical and unnecessary anti-election measures, he will certainly make Trump happy, but Johnson will not have a bill that can pass both chambers.
If the House Speaker caves and agrees to a clean, bipartisan bill, he will avoid a shutdown, but he will need Democrats to save his skin — again — and further weaken his position within the GOP conference he ostensibly leads.
To further complicate matters, Johnson’s latest setbacks come on the heels of similar setbacks that have been ongoing for months.
And if that wasn’t enough, Trump and his running mate seem to think a pre-election shutdown would be a good solution. Good idea — the former president praised a pro-shutdown approach shortly before the final House vote — even as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned fellow Republicans that such an outcome would be “beyond politically stupid.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is still waiting for Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to somehow get their house in order.
“For weeks, Speaker Johnson has pursued a partisan ploy knowing it had no chance of preventing or implementing a shutdown,” the New York Democrat said in a written statement after Johnson’s latest failure. “We now have just days left for House Republicans to come to their senses, sit down, and work with Democrats to reach a bipartisan agreement.
“Democrats are prepared to work in a bipartisan manner, as we have done many times this year, to avoid a shutdown. Speaker Johnson has a simple choice: Will he simply blindly obey Donald Trump, or will he side with the American people and avoid a shutdown? America cannot afford another Trump shutdown.”
Watch this space.
This post is an update to our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
