Johnson pulls spending bill amid GOP revolt... US govt shutdown in T minus...

Odds of a Sept 2024 government shutdown increase, as House Speaker Mike Johnson called off a planned vote on a stopgap spending package

Note, the US government spends over $6,000,000,000,000 (over $6 trillion) per year. (The endless wars are expensive, the 17 US govt secret police agencies are expensive, Social Security, FERS, Medicaid, Medicare… it all adds up to a lot of $$$.)

About 2/3rds of that money comes from taxes and about 1/3rd of that money is borrowed (mostly via US Treasury Bills, US Treasury Notes and US Treasury Bonds.

US Treasury Notes are short term like 3 month IOU´s, US Treasury Bills are intermediate term like 3 year IOU´s and US Treasury Bonds are long term like 30 year IOU´s ……. the US Treasury Department currently pays about 4.25% interest per year on the approx. $35.5 trillion in debts it owes.

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Johnson pulls spending bill amid GOP revolt

Odds of government shutdown in September 2024 increase, as House Speaker Mike Johnson called off a planned vote on a stopgap spending package

Democrats opposed Johnson's inclusion of a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote

BY RAFI SCHWARTZ, THE WEEK US

PUBLISHED 12 SEPTEMBER 2024

What happened

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) abruptly called off a vote on a six-month stopgap spending package yesterday amid Republican opposition. The lack of votes from his own caucus and most Democrats raised the odds of a partial government shutdown at the end of the month.

Who said what

"We're in the consensus-building business here in Congress," Johnson said to reporters. "I believe we'll get there." Some House Republicans "almost religiously refuse to vote for continuing resolutions of any kind," The Washington Post said, while others were aligned with Democrats and Senate Republicans in seeking a shorter time frame for the spending package. Democrats also opposed Johnson's inclusion of an unrelated measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote, dooming the bill in the Senate, while Donald Trump urged Republicans to shut down the government unless the measure is included. Democrats point out it's already illegal for noncitizens to vote, The Associated Press said, but "Republicans believe there is value" in making "Democrats in competitive swing districts vote" on the provision.

Sticking with Johnson's current spending plan "would risk an embarrassing defeat just before November, with little upside," Politico said. But if the speaker had "returned from Congress' summer break and immediately moved to cut a deal with Democrats, he would have sparked even fiercer internal backlash" and doomed his chances of keeping the gavel if Republicans keep the House.

What next?

With "an election in just a few weeks," lawmakers are eager to "avoid flirting with a partial government shutdown" and "anxious to get home and campaign," the AP said, suggesting "the two sides will work out a spending deal" before Oct. 1. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters that "shutting down the government is always a bad idea, no matter what time of the year it is."

Note, Johnson may not be Speaker of the House for much longer.

https://theweek.com/politics/government-shutdown-mike-johnson-gop-house-vote