House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled a vote Wednesday on a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies and programs funded for six months when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1.

What You Need To Know

  • House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled a vote on a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies and programs funded for six months and avert a shutdown just weeks before the election

  • It was becoming clear the bill, which also included a measure requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, lacked the votes to pass

  • The measure had been teed up for a vote on Wednesday afternoon, but Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed and enough Republicans had voiced opposition to raise serious doubts about whether the measure would pass

  • In a statement, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called for a "four corners meeting" — the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate Appropriations committees — to hash out a bipartisan bill to fund the government

The move comes as it was becoming clear the measure lacked the votes to pass. The legislation includes a measure that would require people registering to vote to provide proof of citizenship. Johnson, R-La., signaled that he was not backing off linking the two main pillars of the bill.

"We're going to continue to work on this," Johnson insisted to reporters. "The Whip is going to do the hard work and build consensus. We're going to work through the weekend on that."

"No vote today because we're in the consensus building business here in Congress. With small majorities, that's what you do," Johnson added. "We're having thoughtful conversations, family conversations within the Republican conference and I believe we'll get there."

Congress needs to pass a stopgap spending bill before Oct. 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown just weeks before voters take to the polls for November's election. The measure had been teed up for a vote on Wednesday afternoon, but Democrats are overwhelmingly opposed and enough Republicans had voiced opposition to raise serious doubts about whether the measure would pass.

The stopgap bill would generally continue existing funding through March 28. The GOP opponents of the bill argue that it continues spending at levels they consider excessive. And some Republicans simply won’t vote for any continuing resolution, arguing that Congress must return to passing its 12 annual spending bills separately rather than the one or two catchall bills that have become the norm in recent decades.

In a statement, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called for a "four corners meeting" — the top Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate Appropriations committees — to hash out a bipartisan bill to fund the government.

"For the good of the American people, Congress must move on from House Republicans’ partisan continuing resolution proposals and begin negotiating a funding bill that can earn the support of both Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate," she said. "It is past time for Chairman Tom Cole, Chair Patty Murray, Vice Chair Susan Collins, and I to begin good-faith negotiations on a continuing resolution that will keep government programs and services Americans depend on functioning while we complete our work on full-year funding bills before the end of the 118th Congress."

Democrats are calling on Johnson to “stop wasting time” on a bill that will not become law and to work with them on a short-term spending measure that has support from both parties. At the end of the day, they say no spending bill can pass without bipartisan support and buy-in from a Democratic-led Senate and White House.

"I am concerned that Mike Johnson does not have the buy-in of his party," California Democratic Rep. Mike Levin told Spectrum News on Wednesday, charging that some Republican lawmakers "genuinely want to shut the government down."

"That would do tremendous harm," he said. "Everybody from our veterans, you name it, such harm would be done if the government were to be shut down. And personally, I'm sick and tired of every year or every six months, we go from near shutdown to near shutdown. This is no way to run a country. It's no way to run a democracy.

"My hope and my expectation is there will be a meeting of the minds before the election," he added.

Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas on Wednesday said he stands "squarely behind" the approach of pushing the next funding battle into the new year with a new administration and advancing the election bill, adding he believes the "vast majority" of House Republicans agree. 

"We have a few who have concerns and we're kind of working through it," Roy said. "We'll see what happens, if we end up with a CR into December, then it'll just be another year in Washington."

Before Johnson pulled the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that the package is going "nowhere" and told reporters that when Republicans want to negotiate on a bipartisan basis, "I'm ready when they are."

"Right now, the only thing bipartisan about this proposal is the disdain around it from people in both parties," the New York Democrat said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

Also Tuesday, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, urged members of his party not to move forward with any spending provision that does not come with "absolute assurances" on election security.

"If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET," Trump wrote on his social media platform before baselessly accusing Democrats of "TRYING TO 'STUFF' VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN - CLOSE IT DOWN!!!

Schumer appeared to be unbowed by Trump's comments, telling reporters that the ex-president "ran into trouble years ago when he threatened ... when he said he'd own shutting down the government."

"The bottom line is we want a bipartisan negotiation," Schumer said. "We will sit down and do a bipartisan negotiation. That’s the only way to pass it."

When asked if a shutdown could jeopardize Republicans' prospects in November's election, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell put it bluntly: "A Government shutdown is always a bad idea, at any time."