Nearly 11 months have passed since the historic ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October 2023. Now, his successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is falling into the same fraught political trap over government funding that was one of McCarthy’s “final struggles” — but it’s not yet clear if he will suffer the same fate.
House Republicans are gathering for a conference-wide meeting on Wednesday, where Johnson is expected to present his plan to avoid a government shutdown by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
support this plan Former President Donald Trump, The bill would extend the current fiscal year’s government funding levels through March and would be paired with a Republican bill that would require proof of citizenship to be included in the voter registration process, multiple sources told Fox News Digital.
However, at least three House Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital would not commit to voting for such a short-term bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR). Meanwhile, others questioned the wisdom of spending a few weeks in session before Election Day on a bill that would almost certainly die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (left) is dealing with a complex spending battle nearly a year after his predecessor, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was ousted from office. (Getty Images)
However, most conservatives in the House and Trump allies have strongly supported the plan.
“Certainly conservatives, spenders, frankly any Republican who doesn’t want to give the pen to the Democrats or some kind of … uniparty in December so we want to spend in the new year,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas“Certainly we would benefit from delaying it until March. And then we’ll have a strong fight over whether or not we should make it clear that only citizens are voting,” he told Fox News Digital.
Earlier this year, five Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, but it has since been stuck in the Senate. The White House is also opposing it.
However, Roy was also part of a failed effort in the House last year to pass a conservative C.R. along with the Republican Party’s flagship border security bill — which was also criticized by Democratic leaders.
This CR failed in late September when 21 Republicans, largely opposed to the CR in principle, voted against it.
McCarthy was then forced to propose a “clean” funding extension to the House just hours before the partial government shutdown on October 1, which later became the public catalyst for his removal from office by eight other Republican members of the House.
When asked if he was worried about history repeating itself, Roy said, “Last year, I had good friends who were on both sides of that divide. But I think there’s one big difference, and that is President Trump has publicly asked us to fight.”
Representative Chip Roy, a conservative C.R., is one of the leading supporters of the plan. (Getty Images)
Trump urged House Republicans to Taking advantage of the shutdown To get CR with the SAVE Act that passed earlier this week on Monica Crowley’s podcast.
Additionally, with November’s House elections expected to be closely contested in several key districts, this week could be Republicans’ last chance to try to enact conservative priorities before Democrats regain control of the House.
However, the likelihood of the Senate or the White House taking up the issue is low, and the prospect of a government shutdown just before the election could put those same vulnerable Republicans in a tough spot.
“Whether it will pass the House or not is irrelevant, and the people who are pushing to get SAVE on board know that. Or maybe they don’t. I don’t know which is worse,” a senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital.
However, Roy said he was not concerned about a potential shutdown, arguing his voters were not concerned with the politics of government funding.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee, similarly said, “I’m concerned about a stolen election … The legacy media makes these shutdowns look worse than they really are.”
Meanwhile, like last year’s conservative C.R., it’s unclear whether this spending patch will have enough support within the G.O.P. to pass.
Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., a member of the House Freedom Caucus in his final term who voted against last year’s conservative C.R. and to oust McCarthy, is already against the plan.
“It’s disingenuous and dishonest to do that, because there’s no one in Congress who believes that by linking the SAVE Act to CR … we’re going to get the SAVE Act passed,” Rosendale, who never supported CR, told Fox News Digital.
Former President Donald Trump has been pressuring House Republicans to take advantage of the shutdown. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
He also said the charade violates House GOP leaders’ pledge to pursue single-subject legislation.
He did not, however, say whether he would support Johnson’s removal.
“I think people keep doing the same thing hoping they’ll get different results because there are different people doing that thing,” Rosendale said.
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When pressed on what Johnson said multiple times, Rosendale said, “There are a lot of people you can go to who are more than happy to comment about other members and the leadership. I just know what I’m going to do.”
Burchett, another anti-McCarthy rebel, said he would “lean toward supporting” CR but would not commit to it.
However, he said Johnson was not in danger of being removed from office, adding that there were “a lot of other things going on” before the “final showdown” over expenses in the McCarthy case.
McCarthy did not make herself available for an interview when asked by Fox News Digital. Johnson’s office also did not comment about CR.
