September 18, 2024
Welp – that just went down in flames. The government shutdown is still on the schedule.
What? Play? What went down in flames?
Oh nothing – just the House bill that would have kept the government from shutting down in 12 days.
And – there’s no public plan – at least right now – to stop it. That means if the house and senate can’t get a bill passed by September 30th that President Biden signs into law — the federal government will run out of money. That means all non-essential federal employees will be furloughed from their jobs and non-essential programs will stop. And all essential employees like military members will have to report to work – but may not be paid.
So what’s this plan that 220 House members including 14 Republicans voted against tonight? The exact same plan House Speaker Mike Johnson proposed last week and I told you about in this video. His plan was – not a full spending plan – but a band aid – called a continuing resolution that would temporarily keep the government open basically at current spending levels until march of next year. He also tacked the SAVE Act onto the bill. That legislation is a Republican backed bill that would require Americans to present documentation that they are an American citizen before any state can allow them to register to vote or ask for a mail ballot. Of course, federal law already makes it a felony for anyone who is not an American citizen to vote in an election.
The House was supposed to vote on the Speaker’s plan last week, but he abandoned that vote because he knew then he didn’t have enough Republican support. And he knew he didn’t have the votes from his own party today either. But he went ahead with it anyway. Johnson says he was right.
The Republicans who voted no did so because they do not like continuing resolutions and they certainly don’t like continuing resolutions at current spending levels. Former President Trump is also complicating things by putting out a message today saying that republicans should not support any legislation that doesn’t include the SAVE act.
So now what? Well time is ticking but the Speaker says eh…we got it.
