Speaker Mike Johnson’s government funding plan already crumbling with at least 6 GOP no votes 1/2
By Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, Haley Talbot, Lauren Fox and Morgan Rimmer, CNN Mon September 9, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s government funding plan is already crumbling with enough Republicans opposed to the resolution to sink it, and more warning the speaker will have to abandon his initial proposal to keep the government open.
At least six House Republicans have said they are against Johnson’s plan to attach a controversial bill to bar noncitizens from voting in US elections to a six-month government funding resolution, enough GOP opposition to block Johnson’s proposal given the party’s narrow margin in the House and that the proposal lacks support from Democrats.
GOP Reps. Greg Steube of Florida, Cory Mills of Florida, Jim Banks of Indiana, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Matt Rosendale of Montana have all come out against the plan – known as a continuing resolution, or CR – that is scheduled to be voted on Wednesday.
Steube told CNN, “I have never voted for a CR, and I don’t plan to moving forward.”
Banks echoed, “I voted against the omnibus. I’m not going to vote to extend bloated spending for six more months, to grow the national debt trillions of dollars more in debt. So it’s an easy no vote for me.”
Mills said Monday he informed the House GOP leadership team “I will be a no.”
While Massie and Rosendale posted statements declaring their opposition to Johnson’s proposal.
Several other hardliners told CNN that they have not decided if they will support the package, or vote no. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said that he is “undecided,” while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said that she needs to talk to the speaker and see if he is really committed to insisting that the SAVE Act will be included in the deal.
“What is Speaker Johnson going to do? Is he willing to fight for this? And if he’s not willing to fight for it, why, why would we vote for it?” she asked.
“He needs to commit to us. Because, you know, conservatives like me, we have, we will not vote for a CR unless we know that we have a speaker, if we have a leader that is actually going to go to battle,” Greene said. “Otherwise, … it’s pointless. It’s really a waste of everyone’s time.”
To her GOP colleagues voicing opposition to Johnson’s plan, GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York told CNN, “Look, I don’t support everything. I mean, there were parts of the budget that I voted against in the past. But do we really want to be debating whether the government should be open before the election? I think we have the responsibility to ensure that it’s funded.”
Other Republicans who support Johnson’s plan say that lawmakers should be on the record explaining why they are opposed to the bill that would bar noncitizens from voting in US elections. It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote.
After GOP lawmakers started to voice their opposition to his proposal, Johnson appeared less confident in the prospects of his plan passing, telling CNN on Monday night, “We will find out” if it will pass when it is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday.
“We will have some more conversations tonight,” the Louisiana Republican added. “I am very confident in the principle of what we are doing and hopefully it will get across,” Johnson said.
Just hours earlier, Johnson was singing a different tune.
“Let’s see if they have the guts to tell the American people they want illegals to vote in these elections,” Johnson told CNN earlier on Monday about the Senate.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/politics/mike-johnson-government-funding-plan/index.html