House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pulled a scheduled vote yesterday on a six-month stopgap funding bill amid Republican opposition that would have likely defeated the bill.
“No vote today because we’re in the consensus-building business here in Congress. With small majorities, that’s what you do,” Johnson told reporters outside the House chamber. “We’re having thoughtful conversations, family conversations within the Republican conference, and I believe we'll get there.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 10, 2024. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
The proposed stopgap funding bill, dubbed a continuing resolution, would punt the deadline for a government shutdown to March 2025.
Funding for the government is set to run dry in less than three weeks on Sept. 30. The bill also includes legislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote, known as the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
With a rising number of Republicans coming out against the package, along with overwhelming objections from Democrats, it appeared destined to fail. The GOP holds a razor-thin majority so it can only lose a handful of votes on partisan measures.
Several Republican critics tied their objections to the resolution’s top-line spending figures, citing concerns about the national debt. Others said that the implementation of the SAVE Act so late in the election cycle would be impossible, even if it could pass.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), one of those opposed to the legislation, told The Epoch Times that his only concern with a continuing resolution was “fiscal responsibility.”
Burchett criticized the inclusion of the SAVE Act, which he said “has no way to be enforced between now and Election Day,” as a messaging bill.
Likewise, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) dismissed the inclusion of the bill as “disingenuous.”
But some conservative Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have indicated their support for the package.
In a Sept. 10 post on Truth Social, Trump encouraged Republicans to not pass a continuing resolution without “assurances on Election Security,” referring to the SAVE Act.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who aligns closely with Trump, said that Republicans should be willing to shut down the government to force passage of the SAVE Act.
“We need to ensure election integrity by allowing only United States citizens to vote in the United States election—that’s what the SAVE Act does,” Boebert said. “We need to demand that we have a secure southern border.”
Meanwhile, Johnson continued to make the case for the SAVE Act’s inclusion in the plan.
“I want any member of Congress—in either party—to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections,” the speaker said.
Should the bill eventually be passed by the House, it’s unlikely to go further.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has spoken critically of the bill, indicating he wouldn’t bring it to the floor and pushing for an alternative resolution that can pass with the support of both parties.
President Joe Biden also said he would veto it should it make its way through Congress.
—Joseph Lord
TRUMP & HARRIS’S NUCLEAR POLICY
The country is divided on its approach to energy policy, and that division runs along party lines. Democrats tend to favor Vice President Kamala Harris’ push for renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels. Republicans lean toward former President Donald Trump’s belief that green energy regulations are crippling the benefits of cheap oil and natural gas.
But the parties have stumbled into one piece of common ground: nuclear power.
Harris and Trump both want to expand nuclear energy; Trump because he wants to double U.S. energy output to support expanding power grids. And Harris because nuclear provides a low-carbon energy choice, which she sees as crucial to climate concerns.
Harris has repeatedly touted the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act as a win for the Biden administration; she cast the tie-breaking vote for its passage earlier this year. The legislation has tax breaks and cash carveouts for building, refurbishing, and restarting nuclear plants.
Congress is on board too. The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act and the ADVANCE Act both passed almost unanimously. The first is meant to rekindle American uranium mining, the second aims to triple our nuclear output by 2050.
“This bipartisan support is still a very recent phenomenon,” says Scott Melbye, president of Uranium Producers of America (UPA).
“Democrats want carbon-free nuclear power to provide a 24/7 baseload support to intermittent renewables, while Republicans see nuclear as an abundant and reliable source of power in an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy that will continue to feature fossil fuels.”
But government dollars come with government regulations. American Energy Alliance policy and communications manager Alexander Stevens says the U.S. needs a drawdown on regulatory legislation like the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Toxic Substances Act, and Federal Public Lands Act.
Here, the state regulators hold the power. Nuclear power needs uranium, and while the U.S. mined about 90 percent of its own uranium in 1980, that number dropped to about 5 percent by 2021. To buff U.S. nuclear output, Rep. Carl Albrecht (R-Utah) said a relaxation of state mining regulations is needed.
“There’s still a lot of uranium on the Colorado Plateau locked up,” Albrecht said. “We have to get the message to [Department of the Interior] that if we’re going to convert to nuclear, we have to mine and process” uranium.
Melbye also said the next administration will have to crack down on “frivolous” lawsuits that lead to lengthy delays, and government agencies that “engage in overreach of their regulatory powers to stop industries they may have ideological opposition to.”
—John Haughey and Stacy Robinson
BOOKMARKS
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby has blocked a Utah law requiring age verification for social media users. “Utah’s law not only violates the First Amendment, but if enforced would backfire and endanger the very people it’s meant to help,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump is requesting a halt to his criminal trial in New York after Justice Juan Merchan moved his sentencing from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26. Trump’s attorneys are arguing that the sentencing date does not give enough time for an appeal related to the Supreme Court ruling that presidents are immune for certain actions taken while in office.
Pop star Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday evening, shortly after Harris’ debate with Trump. Swift, who referred to herself as a “childless cat lady,” said she believed in Harris’ values and was impressed with her choice of running mate.
TD Bank Group will pay $28 million in damages for sharing false, negative information about its customers with consumer reporting agencies, possibly hurting their credit scores. The settlement is the latest in a series of penalties TD faces, including $97 million in restitution payments for illegal overdrafts in 2020.
A married couple enlisted in the Virginia National Guard are being investigated for their membership in the Campbell County Militia. Although the militia is officially recognized by the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, an independent military website posted an article profiling the couple, and describing the group as “anti-government.”
