House GOP braces for government funding chaos as Republican rebels mutiny before vote

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is forging ahead with a vote on his plan to avert a government shutdown and force tighter U.S. election measures through Congress on Wednesday.

Johnson was forced to cancel a vote on the measure last week after it hemorrhaged GOP support for days after being unveiled.

Multiple sources who spoke with Fox News Digital on Tuesday said the House GOP leadership’s efforts to persuade Republican opponents of the bill were largely unsuccessful over the weekend.

At least a dozen Republican lawmakers are expected to vote against the bill. With just a four-seat majority and widespread Democrat opposition anticipated, expectations within the GOP are low.

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Speaker Mike Johnson, center, is moving on his federal funding plan despite opposition from fellow Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, left, Thomas Massie, right, and others. (Getty Images)

“I mean. It buys us a week of arguing over illegal immigrants,” one House Republican told Fox News Digital via text message. Asked if it was worth the news cycle if it failed, they replied, “At this point… I suppose.”

Another GOP lawmaker said, “They’re basically at the point where they need to say they ran the play – call folks RINOs, let the Freedom Caucus folks say ‘shut it all down’ and then just wait for Senate to jam us.”

“Didn’t have the votes last week and can’t imagine that changing this week,” they said.

Johnson himself said in a statement, “Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government, and ensure the security of our elections. Because we owe this to our constituents, we will move forward on Wednesday with a vote on the 6-month CR with the SAVE Act attached.”

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The speaker does, however, have a wide cross-section of support from within the conference. 

House Freedom Caucus policy chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, led the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which is being attached to the spending bill. 

He wrote on X on Tuesday that “some Republican nihilists would rather set up the failure they then get to complain about” than pass an imperfect bill with conservative policies.

Rep. Chip Roy (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., a top leadership ally, told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, “I support Speaker Johnson. He’s absolutely right, and the American people are with us on this.”

Congress is faced with a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government for fiscal 2025 or see a partial government shutdown weeks before Election Day. The House has passed less than half of the 12 required appropriations bills while the Senate has not passed any.

Both Democrats and Republicans agree that a short-term extension of this year’s funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), is needed to give negotiators more time.

But the SAVE Act, which would impose a proof of citizenship requirement on the voter registration process, has been called a nonstarter in the Democrat-controlled Senate and White House. President Biden has already threatened to veto Johnson’s plan.

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Meanwhile, national security hawks and senior lawmakers within the GOP have called for a shorter CR through December, citing potential strains on military readiness if funding levels are consistent through March.

Another issue for House GOP leaders is that a large swath of Republicans, including the bill’s opponents, are against CRs on principle, arguing they are an extension of bloated federal spending levels.

Others have expressed frustration at being made to vote on a “messaging” bill that would not pass the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Rep. Andy Barr (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Speaker Johnson is fake fighting by attaching a bright shiny object (that he will later abandon) to a bill that continues our path of destructive spending. I won’t be any part of this insulting charade,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., wrote on X.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote, “The only way to make the SAVE Act a law would be to refuse to pass a CR until the Senate agrees to pass the SAVE Act and Biden agrees to sign it into law.”

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“This would force a Gov shutdown on Oct 1… Johnson will NOT commit to standing up against the Democrats in a shutdown fight and will allow passage of a clean CR in order to fund the government because he believes a gov shutdown will be blamed on Republicans and will hurt their elections.”

Making matters more difficult for Johnson is former President Trump, with whom he met  over the weekend after an assassination attempt on the ex-president.

Trump has publicly endorsed the SAVE Act on his Truth Social platform but urged congressional Republicans to push for a government shutdown if they did not get “absolute assurances on election security.”