The week in which Republicans must find a way to fund the government has arrived. Without new legislation, a shutdown will begin on Saturday.
House Republicans released their continuing resolution, aka CR, on Saturday, laying out legislation that they hope to use to fund the government until September 30 — the end of fiscal year 2025. The funding proposal comes as the constitution’s separation of powers is under strain, with billionaire Elon Musk and his nominally executive branch DOGE entity continue to plow through government, slashing line items and even entire offices and agencies with little regard for past funding legislation passed by Congress.
Here are five points about the proposed stopgap and the state of play.
This is legislation by Republicans, for Republicans.
The CR, crafted by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in close coordination with the Trump administration, is an attempt to get nearly the entire Republican conference on board. Johnson can lose barely a vote (more on that below).
The CR includes an increase in defense spending while simultaneously reducing nondefense discretionary spending.
The increase in defense spending is seen as a way to win over some Republicans who expressed concern over funding the military in FY24 levels. At the same time, the decrease in non-defense spending throws a bone to those Republicans who want to play up their brands as budget-slashers.
It’s a very MAGA CR.
Johnson and President Donald Trump have been promising a “clean” CR — that is, a CR that would extend government funding at current levels — for days.
Turns out, the legislation unveiled this weekend is not so clean after all.
Heavy on Trump’s top policy priorities, the stopgap fulfills several White House requests for Congress to provide certain programs with what are called anomalies, including increases in funding or flexibility for certain priorities that are tacked on to the level funding provided through the CR.
One example is the additional billions of dollars in spending for deportations, giving into the Trump administration request for additional ICE funding.
In addition, the bill does not renew $40 million in funding for dozens of programs that help children and families and $890 million in grants for health care facilities and equipment across the country, including for red states. The bill also cuts Election Security Grants from $55 million to $15 million, gutting funding reserved to protect the security and integrity of elections.
And as expected, the bill also does not include any additional disaster aid for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to help the victims of the recent hurricanes and the California wildfires.
Trump is whipping.
Johnson is expected to bring the funding bill to a floor vote on Tuesday — ahead of a potential partial government shutdown that would kick in after the March 14 deadline.
House Republicans hold a very slim majority, and just two Republican defections could derail the measure. GOP leadership is under pressure to get their whole caucus on board around the plan and Trump himself is also publicly pushing for it — a factor that has made all the difference in other recent, tight votes.
“The House and Senate have put together, under the circumstances, a very good funding Bill (“CR”)!” Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday. “All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has already said he is a “no” on the CR. Several others, including Reps. Cory Mills (R-FL) and Michael Cloud (R-TX) have also raised concerns over the stopgap.
But as we’ve seen play out during the budget resolution and the speakership votes, many supposed hardliners are prone to changing their minds when pressured to do so by Trump.
Trump met with a group of House Republicans at the White House last week in an attempt to strong-arm the holdouts to get on-board with Johnson’s plan.
House Democrats say they aren’t going to give Johnson any help.
House Democrats continue to stay united in their firm opposition to the proposed stopgap.
For weeks now, Democrats have been in talks with Republicans to find a way to get to a bipartisan government funding deal. For Democrats, the key demands center around Musk’s lawless rampage through the executive branch.
But GOP negotiators have, reportedly, continuously shut down requests from Democrats for a guarantee that Trump and Musk will stop unilaterally rescinding and withholding congressionally approved funding.
In fact, the current CR may make the problem worse: It gives the Trump administration and DOGE significantly more leeway in shifting federal cash.
Democrats called the stopgap a “blank check” for the president, highlighting the fact that it does not contain the earmarks that ensure federal funding goes to specified projects across the country.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the ranking member of the House appropriations committee, described the proposed CR as a “power grab for the White House,” adding that it would further allow “unchecked billionaire Elon Musk and President Trump to steal from the American people.”
“By essentially closing the book on negotiations for full-year funding bills that help the middle class and protect our national security, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have handed their power to an unelected billionaire,” she added.
House Democratic leadership has urged its members to vote no. “We are voting no,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other Democratic leaders said in a statement.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the vice chair of the Appropriations Committee, also slammed the bill. “Speaker Johnson has rolled out a slush fund continuing resolution that would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk more power over federal spending — and more power to pick winners and losers, which threatens families in blue and red states alike,” she said.
Senate Democrats, however, have not yet said whether they would filibuster the CR, blocking its passage by requiring it to win 60 votes. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate.
Johnson reportedly wants to force the Senate’s hand.
If the stopgap Johnson is pushing for passes the lower chamber, GOP leaders are, reportedly, likely to cancel votes for the rest of the week and send members home early, according to two people who talked to Politico.
That’s, of course, a calculated move from Johnson and House GOP leadership that would put the Senate, specifically Senate Democrats, under pressure, forcing them to go with the CR text House passed.
Any effort from the Senate to try and amend the stopgap and send it back to the House could risk a government shutdown, as the lower chamber will be out of session the rest of the week and the money runs out late Friday night.
