‘Failure Theater’: Republicans Openly Revolt Against Mike Johnson’s Latest Spending Bill

Speaker Mike Johnson’s funding bill is now facing opposition from half a dozen Republican colleagues as the window of opportunity to avert a government shutdown is closing.

Johnson’s continuing resolution and attached SAVE Act, an election integrity bill that requires proof of citizenship for voter registration, is poised for a vote Wednesday and is now facing pushback from GOP lawmakers who have fiscal and national security concerns. As of this writing, six Republicans are confirmed no-votes and several others are on the fence, which gives very little wiggle room for Johnson’s CR to pass the House. 

Defense hawks like Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana and House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers are confirmed no-votes, citing national security. Due to fiscal concerns, Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Cory Mills of Florida and Matt Rosendale of Montana all intend to vote against the funding bill.

“A vote for a continuing resolution is a vote to keep adding $1 trillion to our debt every 100 days,” Burchett told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “That’s not the way Congress is supposed to operate.”

Due to the GOP’s slim House majority, the conference can only afford to lose four votes, assuming that every member is in attendance.

“I refuse to be a thespian in the Speaker’s failure theater,” Massie said in a post on X. “The 6 month continuing resolution with the SAVE Act attached is an insult to Americans’ intelligence. The CR doesn’t cut spending, and the shiny object attached to it will be dropped like a hot potato before passage.”

Other Republicans like Reps. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Eric Burlison of Montana and Eli Crane of Arizona are hesitant about voting for the CR, according to Punchbowl.

Some vulnerable Republicans had reservations about attaching the SAVE Act to the funding bill, arguing that the possibility of a shutdown could impede their chances of reelection. The speaker reassured these Republicans during a private call last week that he wouldn’t go into this spending fight if he thought it would fall through.

Johnson told GOP lawmakers during the call that his strategy will force Democratic leadership to answer for why they oppose election integrity measures, a source with direct knowledge of the call told the DCNF.

Johnson reaffirmed that he is aiming to avoid a shutdown ahead of the election, saying he does not think it “behooves the country,” according to Punchbowl.

“I don’t think anybody desires that, and we have an obligation to try to prevent that from happening,” Johnson told Punchbowl on Tuesday. “So that’s what I’m working on.”

The SAVE Act, which was spearheaded by Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, passed the House in July with five Democrats joining 216 Republicans in support of the bill. Vulnerable Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas, Donald Davis of North Carolina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez voted to pass the election integrity bill.

Despite voting for the SAVE Act, Cuellar is poised to vote against the six-month funding bill arguing that he doesn’t “like long CRs,” Punchbowl reported. Gonzalez also came out against the CR, saying he would have “no problem explaining a no vote” to his constituents.

Johnson’s CR is also up against fervent opposition from Democratic leadership. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called the bill “unserious and unacceptable” in a letter on Monday, and a White House statement confirmed that President Joe Biden would veto the bill.

Republished with permission from The Daily Caller News Foundation.