Conservative holdouts are giving up their opposition to reopening the government thanks to an intervention from President Donald Trump, who promised Republicans a path to passing legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.
The House is set to vote on Tuesday on a procedural, party-line motion to advance a five-bill appropriations package and a 10-day continuing resolution to fund the Department of Homeland Security, among other bills.
Conservative rebels initially demanded that the package also include the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. This came after Trump said “NO CHANGES” should be made to the funding deal in order to end the partial shutdown, which began at midnight on Saturday.
Lawmakers, like Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), had initially said they were a “hard no” and pledged to “shut down the floor of the House” if the SAVE Act wasn’t included in the funding package.
But Luna told reporters Monday evening that she and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) will vote to bring the package to the floor after meeting with Trump at the White House. According to Luna, Trump promised the Senate would use a loophole to jam the SAVE Act through.
“As of right now, I feel very comfortable where we’re at,” Luna said.
Burchett said that “more than a handful” of Republicans were prepared to vote down the rule, but that has changed after the conversations with the White House.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said the SAVE Act “will get a vote” in the Senate “soon enough,” noting the complications with the vote schedule and logistics.
“We believe you will go down in history if this is pulled off as one of the best leaders the Senate has ever had,” Luna wrote in a post on X responding to Thune. “Voter ID is a must, and the ball is now in your court.”
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who sits on the Rules Committee, also said on Monday he’d “reluctantly” vote for the rule and “give them the stupid 10 days.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters Monday he’s confident the funding package will get passed. He said, “We all want the SAVE Act,” but people have to look at the “reality” of the House’s thin margins.
“We passed the SAVE Act twice in the House — we’ll do it again,” Johnson said. “We’ll do that, but this is a funding package right now, and I don’t think we need to be playing games with government funding.”
When asked by MS NOW whether he asked Trump to call conservatives to get them on board with the funding package as-is, Johnson said “no.”
A handful of senior Democrats have already said they would back the funding package, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top House Democratic appropriator. DeLauro said voting for the homeland security stopgap, despite issues with how agencies are conducting immigration operations, gives the party time to negotiate.
“It gives us time, and it gives us leverage to secure the protections we need for our communities,” DeLauro said during a Rules Committee hearing. “For if we do not do that, we will not be able to bring the kinds of pressure that is necessary to make sure that [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] does not continue to terrorize our communities.”
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said he was not confident that reforms to ICE can be negotiated in the next two weeks.
“I don’t think it’ll get settled in 10 days, but I’d love to be wrong about that, and we’ll probably be up here with some other short-term [bill],” Cole said.
But both DeLauro and Cole expressed frustration with the Senate, noting they do not think it is fair to hold the government hostage in negotiations over immigration policy.
HOUSE GOP MARGIN NARROWS AS CHRISTIAN MENEFEE IS SWORN IN
Other Democrats who have indicated support for the funding legislation include former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), former Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), and Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), the top Democrat on the homeland security appropriations subcommittee.
Hoyer and Clyburn told House Democrats on a caucus call on Sunday that they should vote for the bill, a member on the call told the Washington Examiner. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said he plans to make a decision on how leadership will vote on the package after a caucus meeting Tuesday morning.
