The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Today’s Votes On Avoiding A Government Shutdown And On Rejecting Socialism Two significant votes today in the House. The House is poised to align with the Senate on a bipartisan bill to avoid a government shutdown in a month. Few wanted a repeat of last year’s 43-day shutdown odyssey. The Senate passed the bill overwhelmingly last month. The House will likely do the same today with well over 300 votes. That will put government funding disputes to rest until after the midterms: December 11. The sides want to see which party controls each body before fighting over spending again. The measure simply renews all funding at existing money at existing levels. Conservatives essentially view this as a “cut” since lawmakers aren’t tacking on anything additional. However, this is a bit of a cut for the Pentagon which lacks certainty. And, is the biggest recipient of discretionary spending from Congress. The House also votes on a measure about socialism. Republicans want to get Democrats on the record disavowing socialism. If they don’t, Republicans will weaponize that vote against them in reelection ads this fall. However, Republicans included in the measure the SAVE America Act. It requires proof of citizenship to vote. Democrats view that as a poison pill and will likely reject the measure outright.