Bill to temporarily finance the government fails in a vote in the House of Representatives, next steps to avoid a shutdown unclear

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected Speaker Mike Johnson's proposal to tie temporary funding to the federal government to a requirement that states require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

What will happen next with the government's funding is uncertain. Lawmakers are still far from completing work on the 12 annual budget bills that will fund federal agencies in the next fiscal year, so they will need to pass a stopgap measure to avoid a partial shutdown when the fiscal year begins on October 1.

The vote was 220 to 202, with 14 Republicans and all but three Democrats opposing the bill. Johnson, who said after the vote he was “disappointed,” is likely to pursue a Plan B to avoid a partial shutdown, although he was not ready to share details.

“We will develop another plan and find a solution,” Johnson said. “I am already talking to colleagues about their many ideas. We have time to rectify the situation and we will get started immediately.”

Johnson withdrew the bill last week because it did not receive enough votes to pass. He worked through the weekend to win support from his Republicans, but was unable to overcome objections from some lawmakers about the spending levels. Others said they opposed continuing the resolutions and insisted that Congress should return to passing the 12 annual appropriations bills on time and one at a time. Democrats overwhelmingly rejected the measure.

Requiring new voters to show proof of citizenship has become a top priority for Republicans this election year, stoking fears that noncitizens might vote in the U.S., even though it is already illegal and studies have shown that this type of voting is rare.

READ MORE: House of Representatives passes bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote, fueling a Republican debate in election year

Opponents say such a requirement would disenfranchise millions of Americans who do not have a birth certificate or passport on hand when registering at school, church or other places where they have the opportunity to register.

But Johnson said that's a serious problem because even if a tiny percentage of noncitizens vote, it could determine the outcome of an extremely close race. He pointed out that Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa won back her seat by six votes in 2020.

“This is a very, very serious matter and that is why we will do the right thing,” Johnson said before the vote. “We will fund the government responsibly and we will prevent non-citizens from voting.”

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke out again just hours before the vote, seemingly encouraging House Republicans to allow a partial government shutdown at the end of the month unless they get the necessary proof-of-citizenship bill, known in the House as the SAVE Act.

“If Republicans don't pass the SAVE Act and every bit of it, they should not agree to a continuation resolution in any way,” Trump said on the social media platform Truth Social.

House Democrats said the citizenship requirement should not be part of a bill to keep the government funded and urged Johnson to work with them on a bill that could pass both chambers.

“This is not going to become law,” said Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California. “This is Republican posturing designed to appease the most extreme members of their party, to show them that they are on to something and that they continue to support the former president of the United States in his attempt to demonize immigrants.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) predicted Johnson's efforts were doomed to failure.

“The only thing we're going to accomplish is make it clear that it's a dead end,” Schumer said. “We need a bipartisan plan instead.”

The bill would generally fund agencies at current levels through March 28 while lawmakers work out their differences on an agreement on full-year spending.

Democrats and some Republicans are pushing for a shorter extension. A temporary solution would allow the current Congress to draft a final bill after the election and send it to Democratic President Joe Biden for his signature.

But Johnson and some of the more conservative members of his conference are pushing for a six-month extension in the hope that Trump will win the election and give them more influence in drafting the law for the full year.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declined to comment on how long the funding would be extended, saying Schumer and Johnson would ultimately have to work out a final agreement that could pass both chambers.

“The only thing we cannot tolerate is a government shutdown. It would be politically foolish if we did that so close to the election, because we would certainly be blamed,” McConnell said.

Regardless of the outcome of the vote, Republican lawmakers sought to allay any concerns that a shutdown could occur. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said if the bill failed, a different stopgap bill should be voted on that would allow lawmakers to return to Washington after the election and finish the budget appropriations work.

“The bottom line is that we are not trying to shut down the government,” Lawler said.

But Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of participating in a “shutdown attempt.”

“That's not an exaggeration,” Jeffries said. “That's history. Because in the DNA of extreme MAGA Republicans has always been an attempt to make extreme ransom demands on the American people and, if those extreme ransom demands are not met, to shut down the government.”

The House of Representatives already passed a bill to require citizenship verification in July, and some Republicans who see the issue as popular with their constituents are pushing for another chance to show their support.

Republican Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama pointed out that his state's secretary of state announced last month that 3,251 people who had previously received noncitizen identification numbers had their voter registration status canceled and marked for possible removal from the voter rolls. Voter rights groups have since filed a lawsuit claiming that this policy illegally aims to remove naturalized citizens from the voter rolls.

“These people should never have been allowed to register in the first place, and that is exactly what the SAVE Act will prevent,” Aderholt said.