WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives failed on Wednesday to pass a funding bill that included a controversial voting measure backed by Donald Trump, complicating efforts to avert a possible government shutdown at the end of the month.

Despite the urging of Trump, the Republican candidate in the Nov. 5 presidential election, House Republicans were unable to muster enough votes to pass the package and send it on the Democratic-controlled Senate. With Democrats united in opposition, the bill failed by a vote of 202-220.

House Speaker Mike Johnson now must decide whether to abandon the voting bill and pass a straightforward spending bill that would extend government funding into the new fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1.

Democrats in the House and the Senate say they are eager to pass a stopgap spending bill that would avert a disruptive shutdown that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

The Republicans' voting bill would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote and require states to purge non-citizens from their registration lists.

Trump has made illegal immigration a central issue in his re-election bid and has falsely claimed that Democrats are registering illegal immigrants to vote, the latest in a long line of lies about election fraud.

House Republicans say their bill is needed to ensure that only American citizens vote.

"It's already illegal for a minor to purchase alcohol, yet we still card them. We still enforce the law," said Republican Representative Aaron Bean.

Senate Democrats have refused to consider the Republican voting bill, saying it would risk disenfranchising legitimate voters while doing nothing to bolster election security. A 2017 study found 30 instances of suspected illegal immigrant votes out of more than 25 million cast.

Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer predicted that Johnson would ultimately bring up a straightforward spending bill that could attract Democratic support -- a dynamic that has played out repeatedly over the past year as Republicans have been paralyzed by infighting.

"We've seen this film before. Let's just skip to the ending today," he said.

Congress faces an even more critical deadline on Jan. 1, by which time lawmakers will have to raise the nation's debt ceiling or risk defaulting on more than $35 trillion in federal government debt.