Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing to steer around a bloc of conservative opposition to a bipartisan short-term agreement to fund the government by relying — yet again — on Democrats to provide the bulk of votes to pass the legislation.
Late on Monday night, Republican leaders abruptly abandoned an effort to bring the funding legislation to the House floor using routine procedural measures, in an acknowledgment of the growing opposition to the measure from hard-right lawmakers.
Instead, on Wednesday evening Mr. Johnson will put the legislation to a vote using a special procedure that requires the support of two-thirds of those voting to pass. That all but guarantees that Democrats will need to rally most of the votes to push the critical bill extending current funding until Dec. 20 across the finish line.
It is familiar territory for Mr. Johnson. The speaker has had to consistently rely on Democratic votes on major spending bills to avert shutdowns in order to compensate for Republican hard-liners who oppose any measure that does not impose significant cuts to federal spending.
But it was yet another blow for Mr. Johnson, who was forced to abandon his demand that the stopgap measure — known as a continuing resolution or “C.R.” — be paired with new proof-of-citizenship requirements on voter registration.
“Everybody heard me here last week say that I thought the best play under the circumstances was the C.R. with the SAVE Act,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference on Tuesday, referring to legislation that required proof of citizenship. “No matter where we are in the country, everybody understands that only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections. This was our opportunity to both fund the government and ensure the security of the election.”
