With the March 14 deadline to fund the government looming, Republican leadership on Thursday began abandoning plans for a potential bipartisan spending deal, all while laying the rhetorical groundwork to try to blame Democrats — who are in the minority in the House and Senate — for a potential government shutdown.
Democrats have been outspoken for weeks about the difficulties of negotiating a top-line dollar amount to keep the government open in the face of the Trump administration’s rampage against the federal government, as Elon Musk and his DOGE pals freeze federal funds that have already been allocated by Congress.
In order to avoid a shutdown, Congress would have to pass legislation — either a bipartisan spending bill (though the likelihood of that happening and happening in time to avert a shutdown is slim to none) or a continuing resolution, a stopgap bill to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year — soon.
In recent days, Democrats in Congress began laying down their red line: in order to get their support on either plan, they’d need some sort of guarantee that Trump and Musk will stop withholding congressionally approved funding and spend federal funds the way they were appropriated.
“Let’s be clear, the Democrat demand is really simple,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told TPM, with a mocking emphasis on the word “demand” on Thursday. “It’s that the President commits to following the law. That’s it. It’s not a big deal.”
“The guardrails that we are asking for are really minimal. It’s just: spend the money as we all appropriated,” Coons, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, added during an elevator ride up to the Senate floor.
Democrats are largely in agreement that their so-called demand — asking that the President follow the law and stop unilateral actions to freeze and claw back funding Congress has already approved — is the bare minimum.
“The Republican silence and acquiescence in the face of a march down the road to autocracy and tyranny is absolutely unforgivable,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told TPM on Thursday. “That is what they are doing in effect. Looking the other way or putting the stamp of approval on the disregard for the law that the Trump administration is showing.”
“We should absolutely insist on safeguards to ensure that funds are spent the way they are appropriated,” Blumenthal continued, adding that it should be a condition to helping the party that holds the majority in both chambers pass a spending bill.
In the last two days, Republican leadership and top GOP appropriators began framing Democrats’ request as outlandish. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) even claimed that the request would “limit the scope of executive authority” and be “a violation of separation of powers.”
“Our differences with our Democratic colleagues on some of the restrictions they’re demanding on what we consider legitimate presidential authority — we’re not moving on that,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) said on Wednesday as he exited a meeting with Johnson, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Politico reported.
“The Democrats have had completely unreasonable conditions assigned to this,” Johnson claimed, describing Democrats’ request for assurances around Congress’ authority to stand up agencies and fund the federal government as “just unreasonable” and “unconstitutional.”
Blaming Democrats, Johnson said on Wednesday that a six-month stopgap “is becoming inevitable at this point.”
Collins told reporters on Thursday that she was asked to start working on a CR, rather than the 12-bill funding deal she’s been working on, to avoid a possible shutdown.
Democrats are pushing back against the rhetorical spin from their colleagues across the aisle, telling TPM they are simply asking the President to follow the law.
Coons called Johnson’s argument, that Democrats’ request would be an intrusion on the executive branch, “ridiculous.”
“What does that mean?” Coons asked, exasperated. “Follow the law. I mean how complicated is that. That’s ridiculous.”
Senate Republicans will need at least seven Democrats to vote with them on a spending bill or a continuing resolution to keep the government open past the March 14 deadline.
But GOP leadership’s embrace of “lawlessness” will make that nearly impossible, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) insinuated to TPM Thursday.
“So they are a no go on asking the President and Elon Musk to follow the law,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asked TPM pointedly as she made her way to a floor vote.
The House is not much different when it comes to Democratic resistance to helping Republicans hand over the power of the purse to the executive branch. House Republicans hold a slim majority and the Speaker is trying to govern in a reality where a few far-right holdouts have the ability to tank any legislation at any given moment.
“If Republicans have the votes, then they can call the shots. If they don’t have the votes, then they’re not in a position to call the shots,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told TPM Thursday morning outside the Capitol building. “So Mike Johnson needs to make a choice. If he has his caucus, then he can do what he wants. If he doesn’t have his caucus, he can’t do what he wants. And Democrats need to hold firm on that.”
Democrats stressed to TPM that the burden is on the President and congressional Republicans to avoid a shutdown.
“Republicans have majorities in both the House and Senate. It’s their responsibility to keep the government open,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), also a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told TPM matter-of-factly, during a conversation in the Senate basement. “Hope they accept that responsibility.”
When pushed on if the Democrats might get blamed for a shutdown, Durbin responded: “Won’t change the majority situation.”
Blumenthal said that Republicans need to meet Democrats where they are at if they want their help.
“Republicans will be responsible if the government shuts down,” Blumenthal told TPM. “They have the majority. They can’t blame it on us. They’re the dog that caught the bus.”
“They have a storyline,” he added. “Democrats are to blame because they are in the majority. That’s not the world anymore. I wish it were.”
