Senate Republicans are letting the air out on Home Republican efforts to pump up a partisan standoff over federal funding, which they concern may threat an embarrassing authorities shutdown a couple of weeks earlier than Election Day.
With the prospect of a Senate Republican majority in 2025 tantalizingly shut, GOP senators don’t wish to let a proposal backed by former President Trump to require proof of citizenship for voter registration derail an end-of-month funding deal.
GOP senators acknowledge that Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gained’t settle for any short-term funding invoice that might place new restrictions on voter registration and warn that Republicans would get the blame for any authorities shutdown brought on by a combat over it.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is making an attempt to resolve whether or not to carry a authorities funding measure mixed with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which might set up new voter registration guidelines, to the ground subsequent week. He suffered a setback Wednesday when he was compelled to cancel a vote on the package deal amid divisions inside his personal convention over the persevering with decision’s (CR) six-month timeframe.
However Republican senators are quietly rooting for Home Republicans to drop the combat over voter registration and as a substitute assist a clear persevering with decision — with none coverage riders — so Congress can wrap up its work and go away city with none drama in two weeks.
“It’s probably a good time to get the government operating effectively and not have [a shutdown] occur right before an election,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) stated.
Romney stated the purpose of the SAVE Act, to make sure solely Americans are registering to vote, is price pursuing however urged it will be extra acceptable to push subsequent yr.
He stated enacting it subsequent yr or in early 2026 would “give time for election officials to go through the process of actually looking at people’s documentation.”
“In the time frame we’re dealing with, it’s just not practical” earlier than the November election, Romney stated.
The Utah senator warned Republicans “always” get blamed for presidency shutdowns.
A Senate Republican aide stated there’s no urge for food amongst Republican senators to get right into a standoff with Democrats over voter registration reform proper earlier than authorities funding is because of expire on Sept. 30.
“No one wants to back ourselves into a corner where it’s either the SAVE Act or shut down the government. It’s 50 days before the election, we’re not stupid,” the aide stated.
However Trump is pouring gasoline on the controversy by demanding that GOP lawmakers enact proof of citizenship necessities for voter registration or shut down Washington.
“If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET,” Trump thundered in a Fact Social submit Tuesday.
Trump has considerably extra affect with Home Republicans than he does with Senate Republicans, and his resolution to interject himself within the debate has put the Speaker in a troublesome spot.
Johnson desires to win one other time period as Speaker and he can’t afford to anger Trump or his MAGA allies on Capitol Hill by capitulating too simply on the SAVE Act. However he additionally doesn’t wish to be seen as shutting down the federal government along with his slim Home majority on the road.
“Mike Johnson has to fight now so he can be re-elected Speaker,” the Senate GOP aide noticed.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) stated his Senate GOP colleagues don’t wish to let themselves get painted right into a nook the place they’re threatening a authorities shutdown on Sept. 28 or 29 if Democrats don’t comply with tighten voter registration necessities.
“We’re not going to shut down the government,” he stated, including that Republicans have a superb set of points to marketing campaign on over the subsequent a number of weeks: the financial system, inflation and immigration and border safety.
He urged that some Home conservatives would wish to rev up their celebration’s proper wing base with a dropping battle over voter registration reform as a substitute of sticking to meat-and-potatoes coverage points.
“There are some people that would rather lose gloriously than win humbly,” he stated.
Whereas the combat over voter registration guidelines has caught the eye of Trump and conservative pundits and activists, some Republican lawmakers see a much bigger combat throughout the Capitol over whether or not to punt spending choices into subsequent yr.
A rising variety of GOP senators are additionally questioning Johnson’s plan to cross a stopgap measure that might primarily freeze federal packages and funding ranges till late March 2025.
Senate Republicans warn that it will damage the Pentagon and create a backlog of legislative work through the first few months of a Trump presidency — assuming that Trump wins.
“It’s a mistake to have a CR that goes beyond December because regardless of who wins the presidential election, we should be presenting them with a clean slate. They should not have the burden of dealing with issues of a fiscal year that began in October,” stated Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Collins stated the SAVE Act shouldn’t be controversial, since noncitizens are already prohibited by legislation from voting however acknowledged that Democrats strongly oppose it.
As a rising variety of GOP senators consider Johnson will likely be compelled to drop the SAVE Act from the federal government funding invoice, they’re changing into extra targeted on whether or not it can prolong till December or January, a problem that has additionally turn into a key sticking level amongst Home Republicans.
“I’m more focused on the length of the CR and I’m very concerned that it not go beyond December,” Collins stated.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) stated he additionally desires to revisit the spending payments through the lame-duck session in December as a substitute of pushing them into March.
“My preference is that it goes until December. Let’s figure how the Nov. 5 election goes,” he stated. “What I’d really hate to do is put Trump into office and then he has to [spend] the first three months dealing with a mess that’s hung over from the Biden administration. I’d prefer to get to a situation where the slate is clean.”
Mullin additionally provided the fact examine that solely a clear authorities funding stopgap is more likely to cross the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“Obviously the House isn’t going to be able to send anything over here they want to, with the SAVE Act,” he stated. “If they try to do something without a clean CR, it’s going to have a hard time passing.”
