Lawmakers are returning to Washington on Sept. 9 under pressure to avert a government shutdown as both parties prepare for an election season spending fight.
After a full month away from the capital, lawmakers have just 21 days to come to an agreement to keep the government open before the Sept. 30 funding deadline. Should they fail to reach an agreement, the government will go into a full or partial shutdown beginning at 12 a.m. ET on Oct. 1.
Last week, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) introduced legislation to keep the government funded through March 2025 with the backing of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). But certain provisions in that proposal have already been deemed unacceptable by many Democrats.
Spending stalemates are common in Washington at this time of year as the House and Senate wrangle over 12 spending bills.
Right now, Congress is nowhere near finding unity: while the Republican-controlled House has passed five standalone spending bills, these include culture war provisions that make them dead on arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate. The Senate has passed none.
Historically, September funding deadlines have been addressed through the use of a continuing resolution (CR), a stopgap funding bill that keeps the government running at the previous year’s funding levels.
This year, the budget battle may be a little different because the 2024 presidential election is just 57 days away. The looming election is likely to hang over everything Congress does for the next two months as both parties attempt to bring in more voters.
Republicans Add SAVE Act
On Sept. 6, the House Republican leadership unveiled their plan sponsored by Higgins for keeping the government open.The Republican proposal includes a six month funding extension that would keep the government running into early 2025.
However, that proposal also includes the addition of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a bill designed to strengthen safeguards against voting by illegal immigrants, which Democrats oppose.
Republicans say that the bill would provide crucial safeguards to ensure that only citizens can vote. If enacted, it would close a loophole from a 2013 Supreme Court decision that said federal law supersedes existing state laws requiring documentary proof to vote—effectively banning states from verifying citizenship.
Democrats have criticized the SAVE bill, arguing that it could lead to voter suppression, as some citizens in rural or underserved areas, or those in disadvantaged communities may find the costs associated with obtaining government identification prohibitive. Some state lawmakers have made suggestions to provide free photo ID to the disadvantaged as a step toward addressing this challenge.
“House Republicans are taking a critically important step to keep the federal government funded and to secure our federal election process. Congress has a responsibility to do both, and we must ensure that only American citizens can decide American elections,” Johnson said of the CR proposal.
Former President Donald Trump threw his support behind the legislation, saying “Republicans must pass the SAVE Act.”
Schumer Threatens Shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was quick to signal his opposition to the legislation.“The House GOP funding plan is a bad case of déjà vu,” Schumer wrote in a Sept. 6 post on X. “Avoiding a shutdown takes bipartisanship, but Speaker Johnson is making the same mistake former Speaker McCarthy did by catering to the hard-right.
“If Speaker Johnson continues down this path, a shutdown will be on their hands.”
Instead, Schumer indicated in a letter to his Senate colleagues that Democrats will focus on rail safety legislation and efforts to cut the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs on their return.
Schumer said Democrats support the passage of a CR to keep the government open.
“As I have said before, the only way to get things done is in a bipartisan way,” Schumer wrote. “That is how we’ve handled every funding bill in the past, and this time should be no exception.”
