More Republican strife looming.

As the House returns after another lengthy recess under Republican leadership, the main item on the agenda is approving another Continuing Resolution to fund the government. House Republicans have been unable to pass a budget of their own, so they have been left with CRs to largely continue the budget crafted by Nancy Pelosi in 2022. The deadline to fund the government is September 30.

First Kevin McCarthy, then Mike Johnson, needed to rely on Democratic votes to fund the government since Republicans were incapable of uniting their caucus around a spending package. That led to McCarthy’s ouster from far-right members led by Matt Gaetz, but his successor Johnson has largely had to do the same thing. And Marge Greene, who brought a Motion to Vacate Johnson from the Speaker’s Chair last May, is speaking out against Johnson’s latest maneuver to attach the SAVE Act to the CR.

Oddly enough, Greene’s position aligns somewhat with Democrats and against what is reportedly Trump’s position. The SAVE Act would nationalize voter registration by mandating local elections offices around the country to update their voter rolls by requiring each registered voter to present proof of citizenship prior to voting. This would result in chaos right before the election, which is exactly what Trump wants. The House passed the Act as a standalone bill months ago, but the Senate will never take it up. That is why Johnson has decided to attach it to the CR – to force the Senate to pass the SAVE Act in order to keep the government open.

But Hakeem Jeffries, Chuck Schumer and congressional Democrats have always been a step ahead of Johnson and have called his bluff, daring him to shut down the government right before the election in an effort to appease Trump. That is the kind of move that is certain to cost House Republicans their majority this November. If the perception is that Trump orchestrated it, that will also hurt Trump. That is why Democrats are demanding a “clean” CR without the poison pill of the SAVE Act attached to it.

Several of the most conservative Republicans have already expressed that they will not go along with Johnson’s plan to have them vote for a CR+SAVE. Punchbowl News reported that these include Thomas Massie, Matt Rosendale, Tim Burchett and Cory Mills. They all favor SAVE, but don’t want to vote for the CR. It appears that Marge Greene today has likely decided to join them, and came out of the GOP conference meeting today on it fuming about Mike Johnson’s duplicity:

“I think the American people, on both sides of the aisle, are sick and tired of lying in DC. Why set up a fake fight? For everyone to stand in there and say that we have to vote for this, but in order to vote for it you have to vote for a CR that continues the Biden Administration’s budget .. it’s absurd. The Republican base will know that they’re being lied to, and they’re tired of being lied to.”

Greene then said that if Johnson goes through with his plan, it could hurt their candidates in November:

“We have an election coming up .. the worst thing that Republicans in the House can do is create a fake fight that the base knows they’re lying about, and frustrate our voters. That’s how you lose the House … people will get angry and say, ‘Why should I vote for them?'”

Greene was then asked if her position doesn’t put her at odds with Trump, who reportedly is backing Mike Johnson’s scheme:

“I don’t speak for Trump .. but I think the Speaker needs to be honest with Trump about what he will and won’t do on September 30. That’s crucial, and I don’t think that’s been the case.”

All indications are that this plan from Johnson is doomed to fail, and he will ultimately have to face another surrender to Democrats to garner their support or shut down the government right before the election. Greene, and many other moderate Republicans, believe that the end result is going to be the passage of a clean CR with Democratic votes again, and just want to get on with it without another nasty battle between House Republicans where they publicly air their grievances against each other less than two months before the election.

It will certainly be interesting to watch this play out.