GOP Acts Like Democrats and Works Together to Pass 6-Month Budget CR that puts pressure on Dems in Senate to Keep Government Open
By Jackson Richman, Arjun Singh, Nathan Worchester, The Epoch Times, March 11, 2025
WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives passed a bill on March 11 to fund the government through Sept. 30.
The measure, known as a continuing resolution, passed in a near party-line vote of 217-213. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the sole Republican to vote against the bill, and Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) was the lone Democrat who voted for it.
It now goes to the Senate, where it must receive the support of at least 60 senators to pass a procedural hurdle and advance to a final vote—meaning that eight Senate Democrats would need to vote for the measure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) criticized Democrats for voting against the bill.
“In a shameful display of coordinated political theater, Democrats are willing to run out the clock on funding the government in a failed attempt to block the America First agenda,” the speaker said in a statement after the vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters following the bill’s passage that the measure “will hurt everyday Americans,” citing its cuts to non-discretionary spending.
Jeffries added that House Democrats “stand ready, willing and able to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people in terms of their economic well being, health and safety.”
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Golden, the only Democrat to vote for the bill, said that while the legislation wasn’t perfect, it was better than a government shutdown.
“Even a brief shutdown would introduce even more chaos and uncertainty at a time when our country can ill-afford it,” he wrote on X.It is uncertain if the bill has enough Democratic support in the upper chamber. If the measure is not passed by March 14, the federal government will go into shutdown.
The 6-month government funding bill, backed by President Donald Trump, would boost defense funding by about $6 billion compared to last year, while nondefense spending would drop by $13 billion. It also provides additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested by the Trump administration.Overall, the legislation provides $7 billion in savings over current funding levels, according to GOP aides. The bill also includes a measure to block congressional Democrats from introducing resolutions to block Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
Next Steps
Whether the continuing resolution can pass the Senate is to be determined.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democrats have been mum on how their conference will go about the bill.
“We’re going to wait to see what the House does first,” Schumer told reporters following a lengthy weekly conference luncheon on Tuesday.
This comes as Democrats have been grappling with how to counter Trump’s agenda, particularly the DOGE-related cuts to government spending. Some lawmakers are leery about voting to shut down the government, particularly given the possible electoral blowback.
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Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats, said that Senate Democrats were also grappling with a dilemma that voting for a shutdown may backfire by making it easier for the Trump administration to fire more federal workers.
King said whether to vote for the package was a “very difficult decision”
“This is a classic no-win situation,” he told reporters.
At least one Senate Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), has voiced support for the funding bill.
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Senate Democrats leery of blocking GOP bill fear shutdown politics have changed
By Alexander Bolton, The Hill.com,
Senate Democrats are leery of blocking a House Republican-drafted six-month government funding bill, fearing a government shutdown may backfire on them politically by giving Elon Musk and the Trump administration more leverage to force federal workers into retirement.
Democratic senators panned the House GOP proposal unveiled over the weekend, arguing it would erode Congress’s power of the purse and give President Trump and Musk a blank check to redirect government funding and eliminate long-standing programs.
But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stopped short of declaring the House bill dead on arrival in the Senate, reflecting Democratic qualms about killing the measure if it manages to pass the lower chamber later this week.
House members are set to skip town after Tuesday evening's planned vote on a shutdown-averting funding patch, according to a notice sent by House Majority Whip Tom Emmer's office. As POLITICO reported Friday, House GOP leaders want to "jam" the Senate — i.e., leave them no other option to avoid a shutdown at midnight Friday except to pass the House funding bill.
In past standoffs, Democrats have felt confident that government shutdown politics played to their advantage, as the media often put scrutiny on Republicans during spending lapses — or Democrats were able to blame conservative agitators for shutdowns.
Now there’s growing fear among Democrats that Trump could feel politically emboldened to let a shutdown drag on for many weeks, and that, in turn, could give Musk more leverage to push federal workers to retire, as many might feel financial pressure to look for work in the private sector if they have to endure weeks without a paycheck.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said there’s growing uncertainty about how long federal departments and agencies would remain shuttered if Congress fails to pass a spending bill by the Friday deadline.
Kelly warned Monday that Trump or Musk could make a government shutdown as painful as possible to federal workers.
“That is a huge risk,” he warned. “Maybe they decide that entire government agencies don’t need to exist anymore.”
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Schumer, uncharacteristically, did not speak on the Senate floor when the chamber opened for the week Monday, holding his cards close to the vest until he had a chance to consult with his leadership team.
If Congress fails to pass all the regular appropriations bills by April 30, under the Fiscal Responsibility Act enacted in 2023, government programs would face an across-the-board 1 percent cut.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned Monday, however, that Senate Democrats would own the results of a government shutdown if they vote later this week to block any House-passed stopgap funding proposal.
“We’ll have an opportunity to act on it here. It will be up to the Democrats on whether they want to deliver the votes and keep the government from shutting down. I hope they will do that,” he said.
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