Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) broke through D.C.’s holiday sleepiness Monday when news broke that he was planning to attach an act barring noncitizens from voting in federal elections to a short-term spending bill that would fund the government until March.
D.C. conservatives were thrilled. The move stands out in a speakership that’s largely avoided big fights, and it’s also a tactic conservatives in both chambers have called for repeatedly. “Blaze News Tonight” debuted just after the SAVE Act passed the House with five Democratic votes. On the inaugural show, SAVE Act sponsor Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) called for Republicans to force the Democrats’ hand by doing just this. Shortly after, former President Donald Trump endorsed Lee’s suggestion.
Reporters arguing Republicans have no chance of success aren’t internalizing that the political ground has shifted so greatly outside Washington that Harris is now promising to finish the border wall.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), however, does not want a shutdown fight. He thinks Republicans lose whenever they happen. His problem is that the stance doesn’t just put him against the House, his colleagues in the Senate, and the nominee but the Republican donor class, among whom support for passing the bill before the November elections runs strong.