Trump complicates Speaker Johnson’s plan to avoid government shutdown

Former President Trump is adding another layer of complication to the government funding fight as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plots his next step to address the looming shutdown deadline. 

Trump for months has called on Republicans to pair a bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote with a stopgap measure to keep the government open past Sept. 30. The Speaker attempted to bring up a bill pairing that policy measure with a six-month funding extension this week — only to be stopped in his tracks by a wall of GOP opposition that crossed ideological lines. 

As a result, Johnson punted a scheduled vote Wednesday. 

As Republican opposition to the stopgap grew this week, Trump chimed in to up the ante on his request and threatened a government shutdown.

“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 wrote on Truth Social.

Corralling the slim House GOP majority to support any kind of partisan continuing resolution (CR) was already a tall order. But as Johnson and GOP leaders regroup and weigh whether they can get any wins on the must-pass legislation before the election, Trump’s demands are kicking the difficulty of the Speaker’s mission up a notch.

“Mike’s job is complicated, trying to appease the conference,” said Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), a senior appropriator. “When there’s additional input coming from outside of the conference of significant influence — I mean, the former president’s got significant influence — that makes his decisionmaking just a little bit more of a challenge.”

Johnson has made a point to maintain a good relationship with Trump. And as he pushes for his funding gambit, he expressed strong support for the voting legislation in question, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.

“President Trump and I are on the same page, as is every Republican here,” Johnson said on Fox Business this week when asked about his post. “We have to ensure election security.”

But if Johnson heeds Trump’s request, Washington would head for a shutdown just weeks before the November elections. There is no appetite in the House GOP for that, with members worrying a shutdown — or even the threat of one — could harm their reelection chances.

“Senate Democrats refuse to pass the SAVE Act, which is shameful, and obviously the American people should hold them accountable for that. But we’re not shutting the government down with 54 days until Election Day,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said.

Asked on Fox Business about the political consequences of a government shutdown in the context of Trump’s Truth Social post, Johnson said, “I don’t believe it’s going to come to that.”

Republicans have sought to make the election-integrity portion the public face of the shutdown fight, pinning the blame on Democrats’ refusal to take it up — and Trump’s public demands have only amplified that.

But inside the Capitol, it is something of a sideshow as the House GOP plots a path forward on averting a shutdown.

Johnson is having trouble moving the CR-plus-SAVE Act out of the House as he faces opposition from hard-line conservatives who hate stopgaps, defense hawks concerned about the impact the six-month bill will have at the Pentagon, and moderates worried about the threat of a shutdown so close to Election Day.

None of the Republicans who announced opposition to the stopgap package were against the SAVE Act, which passed the House as a stand-alone bill earlier in the year.

And so far, none of the detractors appear to be influenced by Trump’s public pressure, even though the group includes strong Trump supporters.

And even though Republicans aimed to advance political messaging with the package, virtually none of them expected Democrats would actually swallow the bill and see it enacted. Democrats and the White House say they will block the legislation, noting that noncitizen voting is already illegal and exceedingly rare and that the bill could unduly burden eligible voters.

Instead, some Republicans were more focused on the six-month timeline for a new stopgap, hoping to use the SAVE Act as a negotiation point to avoid an end-of-year omnibus and allow Trump to slash spending and enact his priorities if he wins the election. Democratic congressional leaders have said the funding deadline should not extend past the new year.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told radio host Dana Loesch on Wednesday that one idea was the “SAVE Act in exchange for, we’ll agree to funding government through March, clear the decks, have an election, sign the priorities next year.”

But Trump’s continued focus on the voting bill could complicate any effort to reset the CR debate or focus it on a six-month timeline.

“Every time he says something, it creates a contradiction that causes inaction,” one House Republican told The Hill.

Another House Republican said Trump should step away from the shutdown debate and focus on his own campaign. Soon after posting the Truth Social message, Trump took a bruising in his debate against Vice President Harris.

“He needs to worry about him,” the member said, adding that Trump and the House “are not in tandem” on the shutdown issue.

Johnson, however, appears to be plowing ahead with his initial Trump-favored plan. Caught between Trump’s influence in the party and a desire to avoid a shutdown, the Speaker suggested to reporters that the CR-plus-SAVE Act could come up next week if GOP leaders can sway the holdouts.

“The whip is going to do the hard work and build consensus. We’re going to work through the weekend on that,” Johnson said.

On Thursday, Johnson said that effort had been “fruitful.”