US House Republicans aim for Wednesday vote on stopgap funding bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson intends to hold a vote on Wednesday on a six-month stopgap federal funding measure, Punchbowl News reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

Unless a stopgap spending bill is sent to President Joe Biden by midnight Sept. 30, the end of the government’s current fiscal year, many agency operations will cease and thousands of federal workers would be furloughed for lack of funds.

Last week, Johnson had to abandon his attempt to pass a spending bill when it became clear he did not have enough support for passage from his rank-and-file Republicans.

Any spending bill would also have to win passage in the Senate, where Democrats who control the chamber oppose Republican efforts to attach an unrelated bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote.

A shutdown could upset voters in the weeks before the Nov. 5 elections, with control of both the House and the Senate at stake.

The last government shutdown occurred at the end of 2018 and stretched well into January 2019.