House Speaker Mike Johnson believes former President Donald Trump understands that House Republicans do not have the votes to pass the SAVE Act, following a private meeting between the two men on Thursday night.
Publicly, the former president has called on Republicans to shut down the government if they could not attach the controversial measure targeting noncitizen voting to government funding.
“Look, President Trump fully understands the situation, he understands our margins and he’s frustrated as I am that we couldn’t get that done in the original play, but we go back to the play” Johnson said. “But, we go back to the playbook, we’ll have a Plan B, we’re having thoughtful conversations developing that. I’m sure it will come together over the weekend.”
The SAVE Act is a GOP-led bill that passed the House on a standalone basis in July and would require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, despite the fact that is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. The House failed on Wednesday to pass a six-month GOP government funding plan that included the controversial measure.
Asked specifically whether Trump wants Johnson to shut the government down over this issue, Johnson said, “Look, President Trump understands our dilemma. He wants election security as I do. We’re going to use every opportunity, every measure, every platform we have to press that.”
Separately, Johnson said he spent “a lot of time” with Trump.
Government funding is slated to run out at the end of the month.
House Republican leadership is aiming to have the text of the three-month stopgap funding measure released by midday Sunday, per a GOP leadership aide. This would tee up a potential vote early next week in the House.
As CNN has reported, the bill is expected to fund the government into December and would not include the SAVE Act. The measure would instead fund the government at current levels and would include a series of additional spending on anomalies for disaster and other immediate needs. This is what Senate Democrats have been calling for.
When asked about Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe announcing the agency is in moving to its accountability phase in its investigation into Sunday’s most apparent assassination attempt on the former president, Johnson said, “We certainly hope that is true. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure it is.”
The speaker said, “We’ll wait and see,” when asked whether he thinks the the Secret Service can hold people accountable.
“I certainly hope so,” Johnson said. “We need Donald Trump to have the same level as protection as a sitting president does.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
