Mike Johnson now has to beg his fellow Republicans to do their job

Johnson can only afford to lose four House Republican votes on a continuing resolution integral to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—or SAVE—Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote. He has received six nos so far, in this Representatives Tim Burchett, Jim Banks, Mike Rogers, Cory Mills, Thomas Massie and Matt Rosendale.

Five House Democrats voted for the SAVE Act before it was included in a continuing resolution that would extend government funding through March. Republicans warned that any opposition from the five, including Reps. Henry Cuellar, Don Davis, Jared Golden, Vicente Gonzalez and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, would be “pure politics.”

But there are other, fiscal reasons why a permanent resolution faces a difficult future in the House of Representatives, including concerns that such a measure would negative impact at the Pentagon.