House Republican Party braces for government funding chaos as Republican rebels mutiny ahead of vote

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing forward a vote on Wednesday on his plan to avert a government shutdown and push stricter U.S. election measures through Congress.

Johnson was forced to cancel a vote on the bill last week after it lost Republican support days after its release.

Several sources who spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday said efforts by House Republican leadership to persuade Republican opponents of the bill were largely unsuccessful over the weekend.

At least a dozen Republican lawmakers are expected to vote against the bill. With only a four-seat majority expected and Democrats largely opposed, expectations within the Republican Party are low.

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“I mean. It buys us a week of arguing about illegal immigrants,” one House Republican told Fox News Digital via text message. Asked if it would be worth the news cycle if it failed, he replied, “At this point… I guess.”

Another GOP lawmaker said, “Basically, they’ve gotten to the point where they have to say they’ve taken control of the issue – they’re calling people RINOs, having the Freedom Caucus people say, ‘Shut everything down,’ and then just waiting for the Senate to block us.”

“Didn’t have enough votes last week and can’t imagine that changing this week,” they said.

Johnson himself said in a statement: “Congress has an immediate obligation to do two things: fund the federal government responsibly and ensure the security of our elections. Because we owe this to our voters, we will proceed on Wednesday with a vote on the 6-month CR with the SAVE Act attached.”

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However, the speaker has broad support within the conference.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which will be included in the appropriations bill.

On Tuesday, he wrote on X that “some Republican nihilists would rather create failure and then complain about it” than pass an imperfect bill with conservative policies.

Representative Chip Roy (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, a key ally of the U.S. leadership, told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo: “I support Speaker Johnson. He is absolutely right and the American people are with us on this issue.”

Congress must approve funding for the 2025 fiscal year by September 30 or face a partial government shutdown just weeks before Election Day. The House of Representatives has passed less than half of the 12 required budget bills, while the Senate has not yet passed any.

Democrats and Republicans agree that a short-term extension of this year’s funding, a so-called Continuing Resolution (CR), is needed to give negotiators more time.

But the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process, has been declared dead in the Democratic-controlled Senate and the White House. President Biden has already threatened to veto Johnson’s plan.

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Meanwhile, security experts and senior Republican lawmakers have called for the CR to be shortened to December, citing the potential strain on military readiness if funding levels remain the same through March.

Another problem for the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is that a large portion of Republicans, including opponents of the bill, fundamentally oppose CRs because they believe they represent an extension of bloated federal spending.

Others expressed frustration at having to vote on a messaging bill that would not pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

MP Andy Barr (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Speaker Johnson is pretending to fight by attaching a shiny object (which he will later abandon) to a bill that continues our path of destructive spending. I will not participate in this insulting charade,” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote on X.

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote, “The only way to make the SAVE Act into law would be to refuse to pass a CR until the Senate agrees to pass the SAVE Act and Biden agrees to sign it.”

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“This would force a government shutdown on October 1st… Johnson will NOT commit to fighting back against the Democrats in a shutdown fight and will allow the passage of a clean CR to fund the government because he believes a government shutdown will be blamed on Republicans and will hurt their electoral results.”

Making matters worse for Johnson is that he met with former President Trump over the weekend after an assassination attempt was made on him.

Trump publicly endorsed the SAVE Act on his Truth Social platform, but urged Republicans in Congress to push for a government shutdown if they did not receive “absolute assurances about election security.”