US House Republicans fail to pass spending, voting Bill as govt shutdown looms

WASHINGTON – Republicans in the US House of Representatives failed on Sept 18 to pass a funding Bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by former president Donald Trump, complicating efforts to avert a possible government shutdown at the end of September.

Despite the urging of Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov 5 presidential election, House Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to pass the package and send it on to the Democratic-controlled Senate.

With Democrats united in opposition, the Bill failed by a vote of 202 to 220, with 14 Republicans voting against and three Democrats in favour.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said later that he would craft a new temporary spending Bill that would keep the government running beyond Oct 1, when the current funding is due to expire. He did not provide details.

“Now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play, and we’ll come up with another solution,” Mr Johnson said. “I’m already talking to colleagues.”

Democrats in the House and the Senate say they are eager to pass a stopgap spending Bill that would avert a disruptive shutdown, which would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

But they opposed the version that Mr Johnson brought to a vote on Sept 18 because it was paired with an unrelated voting Bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and require states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists.

Mr Johnson also has to contend with a contingent of Republicans who typically vote against stopgap funding Bills.

Trump has made illegal immigration a central issue in his re-election bid and has falsely claimed that Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote, the latest in a long line of lies about election fraud.

House Republicans say their Bill is needed to ensure that only American citizens vote.

Republican Representative Aaron Bean said: “It’s already illegal for a minor to purchase alcohol, yet we still card them. We still enforce the law.”

Senate Democrats have refused to consider the Republican voting Bill, saying it would risk disenfranchising legitimate voters while doing nothing to bolster election security.

A 2017 study found 30 instances of suspected illegal immigrant votes out of the more than 25 million cast.

Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer predicted that Mr Johnson would ultimately bring up a straightforward spending Bill that could attract Democratic support – a dynamic that has played out repeatedly over the past year as Republicans have been paralysed by infighting.

“We’ve seen this film before. Let’s just skip to the ending today,” he said.

Congress faces an even more critical deadline on Jan 1, by which time lawmakers will have to raise the nation’s debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than US$35 trillion (S$45 trillion) in federal government debt. REUTERS