US House Republicans unveil three-month stopgap bill to avert shutdown

23/9/2024 13:08

        Republican U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday proposed a three-month stopgap funding bill that excludes an immigration-related measure demanded by Donald Trump, as lawmakers look to avert a month-end partial government shutdown.
        
        Johnson laid out the plan in a letter to colleagues released just eight days before the government's current $1.2 trillion in discretionary funding runs out on Sept. 30. The chamber will aim to vote on the measure on Wednesday, according to a source with knowledge of the plan.
        
        Failure to act by then would furlough thousands of federal workers and shut down a wide swath of government operations weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
        
        The proposal, which excludes a Trump demand to impose new requirements that people provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, is aligned with what Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had urged, a basic extension of government funding to December. It runs through Dec. 20.
        
        "As history has taught and current polling affirms, shutting the government down less than 40 days from a fateful election would be an act of political malpractice," Johnson said in the letter.