Senate GOP wants no part of spending showdown in election year

Senate Republicans say they will allow a short-term government funding bill to pass in the next few days, instead of using it as a bargaining chip to force vulnerable Democrats to vote on a proposal demanded by former President Trump to reform voter registration rules.

Trump had called on Republican lawmakers to allow government funding to lapse if Democrats refused to accept legislation that would require individuals show proof of citizenship to register to vote.

But after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) warned it would be “politically beyond stupid” to trigger a shutdown before the election, GOP lawmakers are opting to finish up work and hit the campaign trail as soon as possible.

The election, which will decide which party controls the Senate, is just less than six weeks away. Senators in both parties, including Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), are in tough races. 

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) said the Senate could pass the government funding stopgap as soon as Thursday, several days before the Sept. 30 deadline, because Republican lawmakers don’t want to risk a politically damaging government shutdown next week.

“I think our folks, when the bill comes over from the House, are ready to move on it, at least right now,” Thune said Tuesday afternoon after GOP senators discussed the path forward at the weekly policy lunch meeting.

Thune said Republicans may not demand a vote to amend the funding legislation with the SAVE Act, which would require stricter voter registration rules to ensure that only citizens participate in the election.

Asked whether Republicans would insist on amendments in exchange for speeding up the floor debate, Thune replied: “Maybe not.”

Thune said the Senate could even recess for the election on Wednesday evening, though that’s an optimistic projection. Senators say they expect the House to pass the funding legislation, which would last until Dec. 20, by 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Senate conservatives on Tuesday expressed little appetite to fight a pitched battle over the voter registration reforms demanded by Trump after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced a bipartisan deal over the weekend to avoid a government shutdown.

The bill unveiled in the House would give lawmakers a chance to debate spending levels and policy riders in the lame-duck session scheduled for after the election and would provide $231 million in emergency funding for the Secret Service to improve security for Trump and Vice President Harris on the campaign trail.

“I don’t want to be threatening shutdowns here. I don’t like the outcome, I’ll let other people vote to pass it. I won’t. I’ll just register my disgust at the process by not supporting it,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), an outspoken fiscal conservative.

Ron Johnson said he and other Senate conservatives recognize they won’t get a chance to vote on amending the funding stopgap to attach the SAVE Act, an amendment that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has described as a poison pill.

Schumer signaled to reporters Tuesday he would not allow a vote on the SAVE Act if Republicans insisted on an amendment.

“As I’ve said before and will say again, we need a bipartisan, bicameral bill with no poison pills. That’s the way to get this done,” he said.

Conservatives are taking to heart the warnings of fellow Republicans that their party will get the blame if they delay the floor debate on the funding bill to force a vote on stricter voter registration requirements.

“I’m getting tired of the futile fight,” Ron Johnson said, referring to the deal between Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers to pass a continuing resolution without incident. “It’s all cooked.”

He and other Senate conservatives are frustrated that the government funding bill will last only until Dec. 20, increasing the chances of Congress passing another massive omnibus funding package before Christmas.

“What’s most disappointing is the timing of it. Rather than kicking it into the next administration, we’re now going to be doing it right before Christmas, again, which guarantees a massive omnibus that no one’s going to be reading, chocked full of earmarks,” he said. “It’s totally disgusting.”

Another Republican senator who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations predicted any attempt to hold up the government funding measure likely wouldn’t result in a vote on the SAVE Act.

The lawmaker said there was little desire among conservatives to force Senate colleagues to work through the weekend to ramp up pressure on them to allow amendment votes.

Trump urged Republican lawmakers this month to block any government funding measure that does not include voter registration reform.

“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and every ounce of it, they should not agree to a Continuing Resolution in any way, shape or form,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), another leading fiscal conservative, said Tuesday he will not hold up the government funding package to force votes on amendments.

Instead, he said he would bring to the floor his Six Penny Plan to balance the budget in five years. It would require 6 cents in cuts for every dollar projected to be spent over the next five years.

He may bring his fiscal reform plan to the floor next week as a privileged resolution because neither Senate Democrats nor Republican colleagues put forth a budget plan this year.

“There will be a privileged vote on my budget that will come forward, and the reason is that Republicans and Democrats haven’t put forward budgets this year. I’ll make my opposition [to the stopgap funding measure] known with that vote. I don’t believe that I’ll have other amendments,” Paul told The Hill.