Yesterday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson "failed to pass a six-month extension of government funding, with a measure attached to please Trump that makes it harder for Americans to vote." It's Trump who has insisted on "target[ing] noncitizen voting, which is already illegal," and Johnson has "not provided evidence to back his claims that hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants could vote in November," as Stephen Collinson explains for CNN today ("Why Trump’s election fraud falsehoods might cost the GOP the House," September 19, 2024).
"The gambit has zero chance of producing a new law — since Democrats who control the Senate oppose it. And Johnson couldn’t even get 16 of his own members to vote for it for various reasons — including unreconcilable demands by some arch conservatives for massive budget cuts, which also have no chance of making it into law because of the reality of divided power in Washington."
Republicans currently control the House. If the government shuts down right before the election, Republicans are likely to take the blame in the public perception, if history is any guide.
Johnson, insofar as he feels obligated to do whatever Trump says (rather than, say, serve the public's needs and govern effectively), is stuck. That's his fault and his party's fault.
Late September update: The House passed the funding bill. There probably won't be a shutdown.
Oh, but look
Mike Johnson: There’s No Rush For Congress To Approve Hurricane Relief: “We’ll be back in session immediately after the election,” the House speaker said of waiting until November for Congress to vote on emergency funding. Nina Golgowski, HuffPost, Oct 7, 2024
Oh, but look
Brief thread on how we got here: Since the GOP won control of the House 2 years ago they have not passed a single appropriations package into law. Government has operated at funding levels set by Dems 2 years ago via continuing resolutions every few months. This is not normal.
— Sean Casten (@seancasten.bsky.social) December 19, 2024 at 7:04 AM
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I wrote about Why the Republicans Chose Mike Johnson (unpaywalled friend link on Medium).
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