House Republicans Stumble as Funding Bill Fails Amid Voting Measure Controversy

House Republicans failed to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Trump, heightening the risk of a government shutdown. Democrats opposed the bill due to its voting requirements, leading to its defeat. House Speaker Johnson plans to craft a new temporary funding solution.

House Republicans in the U.S. failed on Wednesday to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Donald Trump, complicating efforts to prevent a government shutdown at month's end. Despite strong urging from Trump, the Republican candidate in the November 5 presidential election, House Republicans couldn't secure enough votes to pass the package and send it to the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Democrats largely united in opposition, the bill fell 202-220, with 14 Republicans voting against it and three Democrats favoring it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would craft a new temporary spending bill to keep the government running beyond October 1, when current funding expires. He provided no specifics. "Now we go back to the playbook, draw up another play and we'll come up with another solution," Johnson remarked, adding that he was already in talks with colleagues.

Both House and Senate Democrats are eager to pass a stopgap spending bill to avoid a disruptive shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers. However, they opposed Johnson's bill due to an unrelated voting measure requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and mandating states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists.

(With inputs from agencies.)