Speaker Mike Johnson's short-gap funding bill stunningly failed on the House floor on Wednesday after GOP chaos.
The speaker paired short-gap funding through March 2025 with the SAVE Act - a bill that would crack down on noncitizen voting in the upcoming election by requiring proof of citizenship.
But nearly all Democrats voted against it and a handful of GOP hardliners crossed party lines to tank the measure, called a Continuing Resolution (CR), they said isn't fiscally conservative enough.
And the pressure is on as just 13 days remain before government funding runs out, halting funding to critical agencies.
Ex-President Donald Trump has inserted himself in the middle of the showdown, encouraging a government shutdown if the SAVE Act is not part of the package.