House Republicans are back—and holding the government hostage

The Republican-led House of Representatives is back in session, just in time to push a short-term spending bill that ties six months of government funding to racist legislation that would require proof of citizenship for people registering to vote. Led by Speaker Mike Johnson, the spending proposal is the GOP’s latest attempt to use the specter of a government shutdown to score political points with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. 

The House Freedom Caucus is pushing the stopgap bill in the hopes that Trump wins in November and Republicans grow their House majority, enabling them to pass steep spending cuts and increasingly extreme legislation with the support of a new administration. For his part, Trump has openly encouraged Republicans to shut the government down if the latest spending bill doesn’t include the proof-of-citizenship provision.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the proposal “unserious and unacceptable” in a letter to his Democratic colleagues and made it clear that it is a politically motivated stunt.  

“In order to avert a GOP-driven government shutdown that will hurt everyday Americans, Congress must pass a short-term continuing resolution that will permit us to complete the appropriations process during this calendar year and is free of partisan policy changes inspired by Trump’s Project 2025,” Jeffries said, referring to the extremist government blueprint that was engineered by more than 100 of Trump’s minions.