WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans will try to pass this week’s attack spending bill to avoid government shutdowns and keep the government running until September, but they need Democrats’ help.
Page 99 suspension expenditure invoiceIt is necessary for the House where the Republican House was released over the weekend, as lawmakers have not discussed decades of government funding bills that were supposed to become law by October 1st.
The third ongoing resolution since October will fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2025. Report From the Non-Participation Congress Research Service.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) appears to be confident he can pass the home bill on Tuesday, but if he goes to the Senate, he will need almost every member of the 218 GOP lawmaker to support the aisle. At least one is already resistant.
If Republicans fail to approve the bill in the House, it could lead Johnson to sit down and negotiate a bipartisan agreement with Democrats.
It snakes to shut down
Another option is to have the federal meander into partial government shutdown.
Tom Cole, House Approvals Speaker R-Okla. wrote in a statement that “continued resolutions ensure that the government is open and working for Americans.”
“The Democrats have the option to join us or show us their true intentions. If they choose to vote to shut down the government due to negotiation leverage and President Trump’s light emptying, they are trying to hurt hundreds of millions more,” Cole wrote. “It’s the fight they lost in November and people will continue to watch. Our good efforts provide an immediate solution to the deadlines before us.”
Kentucky’s Thomas Massey isn’t that supportive.
“Unless you get a lobotomy on Monday, you’ll be making me forget what I’ve seen in the last 12 years, but this week I’ll be no on CR,” Massy posted on social media. “I’m amazed that many of my colleagues and the public are falling into the lie that we’ll fight another day.”
In another post, Massie runs through GOP leadership again, instead of negotiating a single annual budget bill.
“The September 2024 CR debate was to fight in December 2024 after the election. The December 2024 CR debate was to fight in March 2025 after taking office,” Massey wrote. “The CR discussion for March 2025 is to fight in September 2025 because… aren’t you ready yet?!?”
“Give Elon Musk a blank check.”
House Democrats say there doesn’t seem to be a tendency to help Republicans approve the suspension spending bill at the Chamber of Commerce, representing “stopping White House power” rather than a typical ongoing solution.
“Elon Musk and President Trump are stealing from middle class, seniors, veterans, workers, small businesses and farms to pay tax credits for billionaires and large businesses,” wrote Rosa DeLauro, a ranking member of the House Approximately Expenditure Committee, in a statement.
“They made it even more difficult for Americans to get Social Security benefits. They shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which saved US families by $21 billion. They plan to fire 6,000 veterans and make it difficult for veterans to fire another 80,000 VA employees.”
Eight Senate Democrats
The aisle of the house is the first and easiest hurdle for continuous resolution.
The bill must win the support of at least eight Democrats in the Senate. This number could increase significantly in the coming days if other Republican senators in that room emerge against passage.
So far, Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is the only member of his party in the Upper Chamber to say he will vote against the Stop Gup Expense Bill.
“In spite of the findings of @Doge’s Rooney’s left-wing USAID program, the Republican spending bill continues to fund the very foreign aid that @elonmusk proposes to cut!” Paul wrote on social media. “This bill continues to spend at an inflated pandemic level and adds 2T to your debt this year. Count me in hell!”
Paul wrote in another post that he was not entirely certain whether the administration could unilaterally cancel the spending approved by Congress.
“The Rubio Cancellation Awakening Grant is great, but the legal issues remain. Can’t the administration simply spend the $ it gave to Congress?” Paul wrote, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Scotus will ultimately decide, but last week they initially upheld a lower court’s decision requiring $ to be spent.
“The best way to incorporate @Doge cuts into overexpenditures is for Congress to make the $ right. Unfortunately, this week’s Congress agrees to continue spending at the Biden level.
Senators from Trump countries won
The Senate bill must receive the support of at least 60 lawmakers to move past procedural votes and move them to a simple majority final-pass vote. Republicans currently have 53 seats, making bipartisan important for the majority of bills.
Senate Democrats include 10 members representing the state president who was won by President Donald Trump in the November election. You can see some of these lawmakers vote for the StopGup Expense Bill. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. But that’s far from guaranteed.
Last updated at 4:50pm, March 10th, 2025
