By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote Wednesday on a stopgap spending bill that would extend government funding for six months and require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday.
The vote sets up a confrontation with the Senate, where Democrats who control the chamber say any spending bill should not be paired with the voting requirements Republicans want.
Unless a stopgap spending bill is sent to President Joe Biden by midnight Sept. 30, the end of the government’s current fiscal year, many agency operations will cease and thousands of federal workers would be furloughed for lack of funds.
Last week, Johnson had to abandon his attempt to pass a spending bill when it became clear he did not have enough support for passage from his rank-and-file Republicans.
A shutdown could upset voters in the weeks before the Nov. 5 elections, with control of both the House and the Senate at stake.
The last government shutdown occurred at the end of 2018 and stretched well into January 2019.
