Once it became clear to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last week that he didn’t have the votes to attach a bill that would require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote to a must-pass stopgap spending bill to keep the government open, he said he would spend the weekend having “family conversations” to build a “consensus.”
It’s unclear if Johnson was able to do that. But he did spend some time with Donald Trump this weekend.
In the wake of another incident that’s being investigated as an attempt on the former president’s life, Johnson tweeted saying he and his wife had “just spent a few hours with President Trump and are thanking God for protecting him today.” While the post on social media was obviously meant to signal Johnson’s support for the former president in the wake of a possible attack, it also indicated that the two spent some time in conversation, perhaps about a certain funding bill with Trump’s name all over it.
We’re not the only ones with suspicions about that conversations. Per the Hill:
Johnson and his wife, Kelly, visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home Sunday in Florida, and some GOP aides suspect the Speaker asked Trump for his tacit “blessing” of a short-term government funding bill that does not include a proposal to tighten voter registration rules.
It seems he may not have gotten it.
To recap: Johnson had a plan to link the continuing resolution to keep the government funded at existing levels, for the most part, into 2025 to a bill that helps perpetuate Trump’s baseless non-citizen voting scare, laying the groundwork for Trump to blame immigrants if he loses in the fall. But Johnson tentatively scrapped that plan after every faction of his conference vocalized issues with it.
The stakes are becoming more dire by the day, as government funding is set to run out at the end of the month. I break down everyone’s various qualms with the package in detail here. In short, hardliners are unhappy with the legislation because they hate continuing resolutions, defense hawks are concerned about keeping military funding at current levels for six months, vulnerable Republicans who face tough reelections back home don’t want to do Trump’s Big Lie bidding.
And while it seems none of those concerns were quelled over the weekend, Johnson is planning to move forward with a vote on the same linked-up pieces of legislation Wednesday. The voting bill is not just redundant — it’s already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections — but it also would require proof-of-citizenship to register to vote — a sort of White Whale among conservative hardliners eager to suppress the vote by making the process more intimidating, especially to immigrants.
“Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: responsibly fund the federal government, and ensure the security of our elections,” Johnson said in a statement Tuesday announcing his intention to hold a Wednesday vote on the six month CR and SAVE Act, the official name of the non-citizen voting legislation.
It’s unclear how that vote will go, though. There’s been no indication that those in his conference who were opposed to the bill last week have changed their minds. For example, from a far-right member upset about the CR can-kicking:
Republicans in the upper chamber are also reportedly frustrated with Johnson for bringing the same legislation to the floor for a vote tomorrow when it will be dead-on-arrival in the Democratic-majority Senate. Senate Democrats are ardently opposed to the SAVE Act for a variety of reasons.
“It’s becoming a mess. Especially our military — they’re suffering. Even if you do a (continuing resolution), you know they don’t get the money they’d normally get. This whole thing’s a debacle,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told the Hill.
But it’s a mess that Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) clearly think is worth making ahead of the election, as they set themselves up to stoke hysteria and distrust in the election system if things aren’t going well for them in a few short weeks.
Vance distinguished himself as one of the very, very few congressional Republicans in favor of Johnson’s plan during an interview on the Shawn Ryan Show last week, when he suggested a shutdown might actually be in Republicans’ best interest, according to NBC News.
“Why shouldn’t we be trying to force this government shutdown fight to get something out of it that’s good for the American people?” he said. “Like, why have a government if it’s not a functioning government?”
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Great point, J.D.! Of course, I assume the point you’re trying to make is that no one should vote for a Republican ever again.
To paraphrase Jack Nicholson’s Joker from one of those Batguy movies, 'That party needs an enema.".
A Government shutdown would cause pain.
Republicans only talent.
I do believe that Skippy and Kelly Johnson will burn in hell, and very fast, once they get there, since they believe in such nonsense.