US government at risk of shutdown as spending bill blocked in House of Representatives

The US House of Representatives has rejected a government spending bill by a vote of 220 to 202, putting the US government at risk of shutting down at the end of this month.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson (center) speaks to the press on September 18 - Photo: REUTERS

On September 18 (US time), the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives failed to pass a government spending bill, complicating efforts to prevent a possible US government shutdown at the end of this month. According to Reuters, the bill was not passed with 220 votes against (overcoming the 218 majority threshold in the House of Representatives) and 202 votes in favor. Of the 220 votes against, 206 were from Democratic representatives and 14 were from Republican representatives. After the bill was not passed, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would draft a new temporary spending bill to keep the US government running after October 1. On the other hand, Democratic members of the US House of Representatives and Senate said they were eager to pass a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, but they opposed the version of the bill that Mr. Johnson submitted for a vote on September 18. The bill is accompanied by an unrelated voting control measure that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and require states to remove non-citizens from registration rolls, according to Reuters. Illegal immigration is a central issue in Mr. Trump's re-election campaign, with Mr. Trump claiming Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote.

Accordingly, the Republican Party in the House of Representatives asserted that their bill is necessary to ensure that only US citizens can vote. "It is against the law for minors to buy alcohol and we still require them to see their ID. We enforce the law," said Republican Representative Aaron Bean. Many Democrats in the US Senate have refused to consider the Republican voting bill, saying it risks disenfranchising legal voters while doing nothing to enhance election security. Reuters news agency cited a 2017 study showing that out of more than 25 million ballots, there were 30 cases of suspected illegal immigrants voting.

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