House Speaker Mike Johnson Announces Vote On Bill To Avert Government Shutdown

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to the media after the vote on the government funding bill at the U.S. Capitol on September 18, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has announced that the House will be voting on a three-month stopgap funding bill to keep the federal government open until December 20^th. 

On Sunday, Johnson (R-La.) announced that the House will vote on the bill next week. 

If the measure is implemented, the government will avoid a shutdown, which is scheduled to begin at the start of next month.

In a letter to colleagues, Johnson said the “legislation will be a very narrow, bare-bones CR including only the extensions that are absolutely necessary.”

“While this is not the solution any of us prefer, it is the most prudent path forward under the present circumstances,” he continued. “As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice.”

Johnson’s plan does not include any provisions of the SAVE Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote. Johnson had previously attempted to link the act to a six-month continuing resolution, but the House rejected the proposal last week. 

In a statement, a spokesperson for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget said that “the Administration urges swift passage” of the bipartisan measure.

“This short-term CR will keep the government open and give Congress more time to complete full-year funding bills that deliver for our national defense, veterans, seniors, children, and working families, and address urgent needs for the American people, including communities recovering from disasters,” the spokesperson continued.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that while he was “pleased” with the outcome of the bipartisan negotiations, he criticized Johnson’s handling of the situation.

“While I am pleased bipartisan negotiations quickly led to a government funding agreement free of cuts and poison pills, this same agreement could have been done two weeks ago,” Schumer said in a statement. “Instead, Speaker Johnson chose to follow the MAGA way and wasted precious time.”

Schumer had told reporters that there’s a “really good chance” the government will not shut down at the end of the month.

“We really now have some good news: There’s a really good chance we can avoid the government shutdown with all the pain it would cause for New York and America this week,” Schumer said.

Last week, House Republicans rejected their own plan to avoid a shutdown.

On Sunday, Schumer said he is “coming closer” to an agreement with Johnson.

“I am ready to sit down, and I have been sitting down for the last four days with Speaker Johnson, his staff, and my staff, and we’re coming closer to an agreement,” Schumer told reporters.

“We can get this done, but we can’t have any delays,” he said, adding: “We can’t have any people on either side of the aisle, Democrats or Republicans, standing up and saying unless I get my way, I’m going to shut down the government. We can’t have that. There’s too great a consequence for the American people.”

Schumer’s remarks come after he called Johnson’s previous strategy of passing both the CR, known as a continuing resolution, and the SAVE Act “unworkable” and urged him to abandon it during a floor speech last Tuesday.

Johnson has struggled to get his caucus to agree on a spending plan in recent weeks, particularly after former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to shut down the government if they can’t tie a bill to the SAVE Act, which deals with voting and elections.

“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET…. CLOSE IT DOWN!!!” Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social, earlier this month.

Congress has just over a week to pass the CR bill to avoid a government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on October 1^st. If the House approves the bill, it will proceed to the Senate.

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