House Democrats are opposed to Republican plans to fund the government at current levels until September, setting up clashes with GOP leaders, increasing the possibility of closures mid-next month.
The push to move the one-year-old resolution began on Thursday by President Trump. Throwed his weight Behind the “clean” CR, which will expand its funding levels for 2024 for the remainder of 2025. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has backed the plan over the weekend, vowing to complete the bill before next week, and even parts of the far-right home Freedom Caucus look open to supporting it.
The GOP strategy has brought the debate back to the Democrats. There, many lawmakers, including top Democrats on the Appropriations Committee, have already rejected the idea to be out of hand.
“One year's CR is a non-starter,” Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-Conn.) told reporters at Capitol on Tuesday. She hopes that months of negotiations will bring bipartisan deals to 2025 spending.
Sen. Patty Murray, a top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, also said on the Senate floor on Tuesday that he “can pass short-term CR quickly and close the risk of closing and write an annual spending bill.”
The issue presents the dilemma of Democratic leaders fighting to curb critical federal spending cuts pursued by Elon Musk and the so-called government efficiency (DOGE).
By avoiding pushes by hardline conservatives to include Doge Cuts as part of the CR, GOP leadership opposes bold Democrats as there is a risk of being blamed for the closure.
But many Democrats are pushing leadership to withhold support for spending plans that do not take steps to ensure that funds allocated to the locations they intended are progressing.
“We need some type of guarantee because we're not very sure what we've already approved will actually be consumed,” said Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.
That demand was rejected by Trump's Republican allies, setting a side to the conflict course about which languages will appear in the final bill, and raising questions about where Democrats hope to use leverage to gain concessions.
“We want Republicans to follow the law,” said Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif). “That's a red line for me.”
However, Takano also questioned loudly whether Democrats should require express guarantees of the bill.
“Enforcement is at the court,” he said. “Enforcement is not CR.”
At the same time, Democrats are pointing their fingers to Republicans if funds expire. This states that the majority party is responsible for maintaining government funding.
“House Republicans are marching around the country towards the government shutdown launched by Elon Musk,” minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) told reporters Tuesday.
“Rosa Delauro is still at the table. We need a Republican to join her.”
But negotiators on both sides have struggled for weeks to strike bigger funding contracts amid a fierce, partisan debate about withholding the dollars already instructed by Congress and submitting thousands of federal workers as part of a drastic operation to restructure the government.
As some of Trump's recent orders have seen the challenges in court, Democrats have stepped up calls from Republican colleagues for assurance over the past month. But Republicans drew a red line against what they panned as “poison” as Democrats tried to include language in their fundraising laws to curb Doge's efforts.
“They haven't given up on their position,” House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters Tuesday, rejecting Democrats' claim that Republicans have left the negotiation table.
“From our perspective, the only option is to get this done, and to close it,” Cole said.
“They might be in a position to do that if they're in control of even one room, but they're not,” he said. “So do you really think that the Republican home and the Republican Senate will send languages that restrict Republican presidents? By the way, his name is Donald Trump, and do you expect him to sign it?”
Republicans hope to announce the funding halt plan text by the weekend to provide members with several days to review the text before the final vote.
As they head into the fight, some Democrats have already warned not to support them in any way. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said it's pointless for Republicans to support CRs that claim billions of dollars in waste and abuse across federal agencies and then fund the same waste and abuse.
“I'm not voting for the length CR,” Moskowitz said.
Cole said Tuesday he “doesn't expect” democratic support for the coming suspension, but he acknowledged that votes could be tough for some moderate Democrats.
“I think it's 13 [House] Democrats sitting in Trump's seat should think twice about the Trump administration shutdown, but that's up to them again,” he said.
On Tuesday, they asked if they would return to the year-round stop if the GOP plan reaches the Senate. “What I never support is vote or withholding tax to shut down the government.”
“We should not close the government, so I will not vote for it or withhold it. That is one of our central responsibilities and I will never vote for Chaos,” Fetterman said.
