Washington — The House rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to keep the government funded on Wednesday, with a small group of Republicans joining most Democrats to oppose the measure and sending lawmakers scrambling for a backup plan with less than two weeks until a possible government shutdown.
The legislation, which would fund the government through March 28, 2025, fell short by a vote of 202 in favor to 220 opposed. Fourteen Republicans joined all but three Democrats to oppose the bill, which also included a measure aimed at targeting the practice of illegal voting that Democrats view as a nonstarter.
The voting portion of the legislation, known as the SAVE Act, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. The House passed the measure earlier this year.
“The play that we ran tonight was the right play,” Johnson said after the vote, while expressing disappointment that the bill didn’t pass. “So now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play and we’ll come up with a solution.”
Although it’s already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, Johnson has argued that there’s no federal mechanism to enforce it.
Former President Donald Trump weighed in ahead of the vote on Wednesday, encouraging Republicans only to back a continuing resolution if the voting measure is attached — and suggesting that they let the government shutdown if not.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
But the measure, billed as a sweetener for House conservatives who often oppose stopgap bills to keep the government funded, wasn’t enough to get the legislation over the finish line with a razor-thin Republican majority, even after House leadership delayed the vote last week to build GOP support.
