Johnson’s plan to avoid government shutdown goes down in flames as Republicans rebel

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to avert a partial government shutdown failed on Wednesday. 

It was voted down 202 to 220, with two Republicans – Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky. – voting “present.”

At least nine Republicans voted against House GOP leadership’s bill, a six-month extension of the current year’s federal funding levels coupled with a measure to require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process.

Three Democrats voted in support of the measure – Reps. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and Don Davis, D-N.C.

The bill began hemorrhaging support soon after Johnson rolled it out during a conference call with House Republicans earlier this month – to the frustration of the majority of the House GOP.

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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson is pictured in front of the U.S. Capitol. (Getty Images/AP)

A significant number of Republicans object to a stop-gap spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR) on principle – believing it to be an unnecessary extension of government bloat.

National security hawks expressed concern about the impact of a six-month funding extension on military readiness without added funds to keep up with rising costs.

The discord has caused tensions to run high within the House GOP.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a vocal supporter of the bill and author of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, said of fellow Republicans: “I would dare any one of my colleagues who are against this plan, come forward with a better plan that we will actually be able to move, pass, and unite the Republican Party to go beat Democrats.”

“Don’t predict failure and then be the reason why we fail – and that’s what some of my friends are doing, unfortunately,” Roy said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” program. 

Johnson allies have also pointed out that this plan would be a strong opening salvo in a negotiation with the Democrat-controlled Senate on government funding – the speaker himself has repeatedly said the SAVE Act is worth fighting for.

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Rep. Chip Roy is one of the strongest advocates for Johnson’s plan. (Getty Images)

Both Republican and Democratic leaders have conceded a CR is necessary to give congressional negotiators more time past the Oct. 1 deadline to hash out fiscal year 2025’s priorities.

Democrats, however, have called for a “clean” CR free from conservative policy riders. And senior lawmakers in both parties argued that a CR through December is the best course of action to allow Congress to reevaluate after the election.

Johnson has repeatedly insisted he had no “plan B” beyond Wednesday’s vote. He said as much to GOP lawmakers in a closed-door Wednesday morning meeting, two sources told Fox News Digital.

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But with his initial plan defeated, Johnson is now caught between two warring Republican factions – one that wants him to leverage a partial government shutdown, and one that is reluctantly conceding that the House GOP could be left with no choice but to pass a “clean” CR into December.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, who initially backed the six-month CR plus SAVE Act plan, more recently advocated for congressional Republicans to shut down the government if they did not get “absolute assurances on election security.”

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on September 17, 2024.  (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

A majority of Republicans, however, are publicly and privately conceding that they would bear the brunt of public anger over a government shutdown weeks before Election Day.

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Vulnerable Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., insisted to reporters on Wednesday morning that “there’s not going to be a shutdown.”

When asked directly about Trump’s insistence, Lawler answered, “I’m not shutting the government down. My colleagues aren’t shutting the government down.”