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House to vote on GOP plan to fund the government with shutdown deadline on the horizon
Washington — The House is set to vote Wednesday on a measure to keep the government funded with less than two weeks before a possible government shutdown. But the measure, paired with what Democrats see as a poison pill on noncitizen voting, faces headwinds in the lower chamber. And even among Republicans, support may fall short.
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Tuesday that the House would move forward with the vote, after delaying it days earlier in the face of opposition from members of his own party. With a razor-thin majority in the House, just a handful of Republicans can tank a partisan bill. And the House GOP’s opening salvo in the funding fight has attracted plenty of opponents.
The continuing resolution would keep the government funded through March 28. But it includes a measure aimed at targeting the practice of illegal voting that Democrats view as a nonstarter. The bill, known as the SAVE Act, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. And despite the fact that only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in federal elections under current law, the House passed the measure earlier this year.
The voting legislation, though it’s a dead end for Democrats, has been billed as a sweetener for House conservatives, who often oppose stopgap measures to keep the government funded. Whether it’s enough to keep the reliably unruly group in line remains to be seen.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The strategy has also picked up opposition from defense hawks, who have raised concern about the impact of a six-month continuing resolution on defense spending. But House Republican leadership has moved ahead with the longer timeline, which could give them more leverage in a funding fight if Donald Trump returns to the White House next year.
The opposition from multiple sides makes the measure’s passage in the House an uphill battle. But Johnson has yet to identify an alternative, telling reporters on Tuesday that he’s “not having any alternative conversations” despite the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government.
“That’s the play,” Johnson said. “It’s an important one and I’m going to work around the clock to try to get it passed.”
Senate Republicans have deferred to the House, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell telling reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that they “first have to wait and see what the House sends us.” But he insisted that there must not be a government shutdown.
“It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election, because certainly we’d get the blame,” McConnell said.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have lambasted the speaker for his prolonged opening gambit. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, said on Tuesday that it’s “time for Speaker Johnson to take a good look in the mirror.”
“He is proposing a bill that first off, he can’t even get through the House, and second off, he has a flat, zero percent chance of passing here in the Senate,” Murray said, arguing that the approach would “leave countless programs, including our military, stuck in limbo for half a year,” along with including a “massive poison pill that is the very definition of a nonstarter.”
Murray accused Johnson of walking out “onto an extreme partisan limb” with the plan, catering to those on the fringe of his party. She said she had a message for the speaker.
“There is an off-ramp right in front of you, one you have taken before, one you should know by now actually works — bipartisanship,” Murray said. “It’s actually pretty simple.”
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North Carolina governor’s race rocked by CNN report on Mark Robinson’s alleged incendiary comments
Editor’s note: This story contains highly offensive language.
Washington — North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, posted a slew of incendiary, explicit and racist comments on a pornographic website more than a decade ago, according to a CNN investigation released Thursday that has shaken the state’s gubernatorial race.
The report focused on comments made by an account with the name “minisoldr” on a pornographic website called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012. The account used the name “mark robinson” in its profile and a number of biographical details posted by the account line up with Robinson’s own history, according to CNN. The network reported that Robinson appeared to use the account name on other platforms over the years, including YouTube and Pinterest, and that the email address associated with the account belonged to Robinson.
On the Nude Africa forum, the user expressed a desire to “bring [slavery] back” and “buy a few” slaves, while identifying himself as a “black NAZI,” according to CNN.
“Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few,” the account wrote in a discussion about Black Republicans in 2010, according to CNN.
“I like watching tranny on girl porn!” the minisoldr account also posted on Nude Africa, according to CNN. “That’s f****** hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in! And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
In March 2012, minisoldr posted a preference for Hitler over former President Barack Obama’s administration: “I’d take Hitler over any of the s*** that’s in Washington right now!”
Minisoldr also used racist language to vilify civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr.
“I’m not in the KKK. They don’t let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!” the account posted in October 2011, according to CNN.
Reports emerged earlier Thursday that CNN was planning to publish a damaging story that could lead other Republicans to call on Robinson to drop out of the race. In a video posted to X before the CNN story was published, Robinson flatly denied that he said anything in the CNN report and insisted he won’t drop out. North Carolina will begin mailing ballots to members of the military and voters outside the U.S. on Friday.
“The things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” Robinson said in his video. “You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”
Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Robinson echoed those comments in an interview with CNN. “This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,” Robinson said, adding that he wouldn’t “get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies” when presented with evidence that the account belonged to him.
Robinson, who is 56 and married with two children, has a history of inflammatory remarks that have widely circulated since he won the state’s Republican primary in March. Serving as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor since 2021, he gained prominence in Republican circles after he delivered a pro-gun rights speech that went viral and kickstarted his political career. He’s made inflammatory comments across a number of topics — from Islam to abortion to feminism — but he’s been especially vocal on LGBTQ+ issues.
If elected, Robinson would become the first Black governor of North Carolina. Former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson for governor, has referred to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
The lieutenant governor blamed the CNN report on his Democratic opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.
“You all have seen the half truths and outright lies of Josh Stein,” Robinson said, claiming that Stein leaked the story to CNN.
The report’s release has spurred concern among Republicans about their nominee’s prospects in the coming election. Sen. Ted Budd, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters ahead of its release on Thursday that “North Carolinian voters are smart, and they know how to pick each and every candidate based on their own merits.”
When asked whether Robinson should step down, Budd said he didn’t have enough information.
“They’ve been assaulting him for years,” Budd said before the article was published. “We’re going to gather our facts through the weekend.”
contributed to this report.
Certain boxes of waffles sold at Costco Wholesale stores in the Midwest are being recalled because they may contain plastic, according to a notice by supplier Kodiak Cakes.
The recall involves Kodiak Power Waffles Buttermilk & Vanilla 40 count with the UPC code 705599019203 and a use-by date of Jan. 10, 2026, and only impacts products with the lot code 24193-WL4 and a time stamp of 12:00-23:00, according to the Park City, Utah-based company.
The recalled products were sold at Costco warehouses in 13 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
The action was initiated “due to the potential presence of soft plastic film,” according to Kodiak, which noted that no injuries or illnesses had been reported.
Those who purchased the recalled product can return it to their local Costco for a refund.
People with questions can email Kodiak at: flapjacks@kodiakcakes.com or call 801-328-4067. Messages will be returned between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mountain time, Monday through Friday.