With election looming, Congress scrambles to avert government shutdown

The election looms, but first, lawmakers face another deadline to keep the government open and funded. With just under two weeks to go, the House of Representatives is taking a risk by voting on a government funding patch with controversial election reform attached to the bill. That combination is expected to fail and for now, Republicans say they don’t have a backup plan. Lisa Desjardins reports.
Amna Nawaz:
The election looms, but, first, lawmakers face another deadline to keep government open and funded. They have just under two weeks to go.
And, tonight, the House of Representatives is taking a risk, voting on a government funding patch with controversial election reform attached to the bill. That combination is expected to fail. And, for now, Republicans say they don’t have a backup plan that could garner enough votes to pass.
Lisa Desjardins joins us now.
So, Lisa, where are we with a possible shutdown?
Lisa Desjardins:
All right, September 30, there needs to be funding passed by then, or we would have a shutdown. That seems like a long time away, but, actually, in congressional world, that means just this week or next week to get that funding passed.
So let’s take a look at the House floor right now. They’re in a vote series. This is not the actual vote on the continuing resolution to fund government. That’s coming up soon. But what we expect to happen tonight is it will be a close vote, and we expect this patch suggested by House Speaker Mike Johnson for six months to fail.
And that is because, in part, it is attached to the SAVE Act, which is a piece of legislation dealing with voting. Now, in this country, it is illegal to vote if you’re a noncitizen. There are studies and there are many debunkings of the idea that there is any problem with noncitizen voting.
It’s a minuscule number that’s ever been proven. It’s not a significant issue. But Republicans want this to pass, some of them, to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. These two things together have meant that this patch in funding is likely to fail, and Republicans right now, Amna, do not have a plan B.
Amna Nawaz:
So, Lisa, if this patch is likely to fail and there is this deadline approaching, why is Speaker Johnson holding the vote at all?
Lisa Desjardins:
There are a few reasons here.
This is a role of the dice. He has been saying all day that he can sway enough Republicans when it comes down to it. We have seen over the past two years they have lost the votes like this. So, it would be a dramatic change if that happens.
His job is on the line here is one reason. He wants to prove to conservative Republicans, especially fiscal hawks, those in the Freedom Caucus, some of them, that he will push their ideas, even if they fail. The other issue is that this is an election year issue for Republicans. They know that the idea of voter I.D. in general is something that’s popular.
They are betting on the idea that proof of citizenship, which is a little bit different, also could be popular, and this is something that they want to talk about on the campaign trail.
Amna Nawaz:
And this is something we have heard from other Republicans, among them, former President Trump. He’s in particular been pointing to a related issue in Arizona, right, due to citizenship and the voting law there.
Lisa Desjardins:
Right.
Amna Nawaz:
What’s happening?
Lisa Desjardins:
Right.
We’re going to try and explain this clearly. In Arizona, just in the past couple of days, it has come to light that some almost 100,000 voters who have been registered to vote for decades may not meet a requirement that went into place after that. It requires that they show proof that they are U.S. citizens.
Now, the state just discovered this glitch. And one thing about this, Arizona’s law is unique. So a bottom line here, Amna, is that these voters can still vote in the presidential election, Arizona an important state and in federal elections, but because of state law, they are now in limbo for state elections.
And that includes Arizona’s abortion ballot measure, which a lot of people are watching. Trump responded about this on his TRUTH Social platform. He raised the idea that this implies that the election is rigged. We know that actually he’s conflating several ideas here.
We talked with Carrie Levine from Votebeat, covers this, asked what is known about the likelihood that any of the folks caught up in this might be noncitizen voters?
Carrie Levine, Votebeat:
Officials have said a vast majority of these people really are almost certainly citizens. They are people who have been in Arizona for a long time. There’s really no evidence that there’s a large group of noncitizens in there, but, of course, one of the reasons that the state has chosen — and it has unique laws in this respect — to require a documented proof of citizenship to vote in state elections is because they are worried about this.
Lisa Desjardins:
They’re worried about this, but that law is actually causing other problems right now.
As we see, this is going to go to court. Ballots are about to be printed. Decisions need to be made very quickly. Something else worth noting for — especially for former President Trump, the Arizona secretary of state said this group of voters that they’re looking at, the largest group of them is Republicans.
So if you’re accusing this event, some kind of rigging in the election, you’re accusing Republicans of doing the rigging. The Republican Party says let them all vote this election. It’s too late to change anything. We’re going to have to monitor it.
Amna Nawaz:
Two very big stories, both worth keeping an eye on.
Lisa Desjardins, thank you so much.
Lisa Desjardins:
You’re welcome.