A group of House Republicans met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday as GOP leadership is under pressure to get their whole caucus on board with a six-month “clean” continuing resolution House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been pushing since Sunday.
Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote and still pass a stopgap spending bill to keep the government open. House Democrats have made it clear they won’t help the majority party pass the legislation without an agreement that Trump won’t continue his lawless DOGE rampage, freezing and rescinding congressionally authorized federal funds.
Trump, who has endorsed Johnson’s plan to avert a shutdown when government funding runs out on March 14, reportedly did make some progress in pressuring House Republicans holdouts to get in line.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO), who was undecided going into the meeting, reportedly said he was open to supporting the CR following the afternoon meeting at the White House.
“I’ve never voted for a CR, but I’m willing to consider it to back the president, if necessary, if it gives him some wiggle room,” Burlison said, adding that he wants to “get to a place where we actually cut spending.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), another holdout, said he was still “listening” and looking to see “what their definition of a clean CR” was after the meeting.
It is not yet clear if Trump will be successful in strong-arming all the GOP hardliners who have been indicating since Sunday that they are not on board with funding the government at FY24 levels until the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
“I’ll vote against a clean CR that funds everything in 2025 at 2024 levels,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said on X on Tuesday.
I’ll vote against a clean CR that funds everything in 2025 at 2024 levels because:
1. @SpeakerJohnson isn’t following the provision in law that would have cut everything by 1% if the CR extended past April.
2. We should not fund the waste, fraud, and abuse that Doge has found.…
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 4, 2025
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-OH), who voted against the CR Johnson negotiated with President Joe Biden and Democrats last year, also said he’d be a “no” on funding the government at current levels.
“I am a NO on the CR,” Gonzales said in an X statement on Sunday. “Congress needs to do its job and pass a conservative budget! CR’s are code for Continued Rubberstamp of fraud, waste, and abuse.”
Johnson did acknowledge several GOP lawmakers have “hesitation” over backing the six-month stopgap on Tuesday, adding that he thinks “once people understand the necessity of it, I think they’ll get on board and we’ll pass it.”
Freedom Caucus members and occasional fiscal hawk holdouts Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Andy Harris (R-MD) reiterated that point, telling reporters on Wednesday that they believe other holdouts will get on board following the president’s latest push.
Just two Republican “no” votes would be enough to tank the CR — assuming all House Democrats vote against the stopgap.
Johnson said he hopes to put the CR on the House floor “early next week.”
The legislative text of the stopgap bill is expected to be released this weekend, according to some Republicans who spoke to Politico. The text is expected to include additional defense funding requests from the Trump administration and other “very minimal” additions, according to the Speaker.
If the CR passes the House, it will be subjected to the filibuster on the Senate side, requiring at least 60 votes for it to pass. Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate, meaning they would need some support from Democrats to pass the measure.
For weeks now, Democrats have been saying in order for them to support passing legislation to keep the government funded past the March 14 deadline, they’d need some sort of guarantee that Trump and Musk will stop rescinding and withholding congressionally approved funding and spend federal funds the way they were appropriated.
But it appears some Senate Democrats are becoming uneasy about the prospects of a shutdown.
“I think the implications of a full-year CR are really horrible, especially for the military,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) told Punchbowl on Tuesday. “And for a state like ours, a shutdown is even worse.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), who is one of the only Democrats open to working with Republicans, said he “will never vote for or withhold my vote to shut the government down. That’s chaos and I’ll never vote for chaos.”
Other Democrats are reportedly considering a third option — besides a six-month CR or a shutdown: a short-term CR that would fund the government for long enough to give negotiators more time to write and pass bipartisan, full-year spending bills.
“We cannot stand by and accept a year-long power grab CR that would help Elon take a chainsaw to programs that families rely on and agencies that keep our communities safe,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said Tuesday.
Top congressional appropriators might be close to finalizing a bipartisan agreement on funding toplines, the first step for clearing the way for a possible bipartisan spending bill.
“It’s imminent,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), House Democrat’s top appropriator, told reporters Wednesday night about a funding agreement, according to Politico. “Let’s get the process started. Let’s move.”
