Congress faces a Friday deadline to approve a new government spending bill to avert a shutdown at midnight—with preliminary votes expected as soon as Monday and final votes Tuesday on a GOP-backed resolution at least one House Republican has vowed to vote against, throwing its fate into doubt under the party’s slim majorities in the House and Senate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to reporters as he leaves a meeting between Elon Musk and ... [+]
House Republicans introduced a bill Saturday that would largely keep current fiscal year 2024 funding levels in place until the end of September—with a $13 billion cut to nondefense spending, $6 billion increase to defense spending and $6 billion more for veterans’ health care—to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a fiscal year 2025 spending plan.
Trump urged Republicans to unify behind the bill in a Saturday Truth Social post, but acknowledged to reporters Sunday a shutdown “could happen” but “probably won’t,” expressing optimism it would pass.
Assuming all Democrats vote against the bill—as leadership has urged them to do—Republicans can afford to lose just one vote in the House.
Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., has said Sunday he would vote against it, questioning on X why he would “vote to continue the waste fraud and abuse” he said is included in the existing spending plan, while others, including Reps. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa, have said they’re undecided.
The House is expected to take a procedural vote on the bill Monday and could take a final vote as soon as Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News last week.
Seven Senate Democrats must vote for the resolution to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and at least one, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told Politico last week he would, though at least one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has said he’ll vote against it.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, argued the bill—known as a continuing resolution—“creates slush funds for the Trump administration to reshape spending priorities, eliminate longstanding programs, pick winners and losers, and more,” she said in a memo Saturday. Murray alleged it gives the Trump administration leeway to decide how to spend without guidelines from Congress and gives Congress “fewer legal constraints on what it can do.”
Some Republicans who typically oppose short-term spending bills, known as “continuing resolutions,” since they don’t include broad spending cuts, have expressed support for the proposed package, citing the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency’s ongoing work to identify cuts. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who typically votes against continuing resolutions, told reporters Thursday it would allow DOGE to continue “demonstrating all the waste, fraud and abuse that we can then use to go inform FY 2026,” CBS reported. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., is also among the Republicans who don’t typically vote for continuing resolutions but said they would this time around, citing DOGE efforts.
Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown in December when it passed a continuing resolution, with some Democrats’ support, to extend the fiscal year 2024 budget through mid-March. The bill initially failed when it included a provision backed by Trump and Musk to suspend or increase the debt limit until 2027, but Republicans ultimately abandoned the proposal. If the government were to shut down, non-essential employees would be told to stay home from work until a new spending plan is approved, while essential staff, including military and those involved in national security, would work without pay.
Here’s Why A Government Shutdown Appears Increasingly Likely: ‘We’re Running Out Of Time’ (Forbes)
Biden Signs Funding Bill—Averting Government Shutdown (Forbes)