Republicans released a proposal on Saturday for extending government funding, but it faces hurdles in both chambers of Congress that leave its outcome unclear.
The 100-page continuing resolution (CR)—Capitol Hill parlance for a stopgap funding bill—would primarily extend funding past the March 14 deadline to Sept. 30.
But it also contains provisions that aren’t primarily related to extending government funding, including the addition of some new defense and deportation appropriations, and some spending cuts.
While CRs generally rely on Democrats’ help to pass, given many Republicans’ hard-line opposition to such measures, Democrats have indicated they won’t help this time—raising questions about whether the measure can pass both chambers.
President Donald Trump has backed the plan, as Republicans’ primary focus remains on crafting their budget legislation to implement his agenda.
In addition to extending government funding, the CR would include new appropriations related to the Department of Defense and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while providing for some spending cuts.
House Republican leadership staff said on a March 8 press call that the CR would approve $892.5 billion in defense spending, a slight increase over last year, and about $708 billion for nondefense spending, roughly an 8 percent reduction over the previous year.
Increases to ICE funding, which could help Trump in his efforts to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history, are primarily related to a years-long operating shortfall in the agency going back to President Joe Biden’s administration, staffers said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told NBC’s Meet the Press on March 2 that the spending cuts implemented by the bill are related to ongoing efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to identify potentially wasteful or fraudulent spending within the federal government.
Johnson said the bill will “freeze funding at current levels to make sure that the government can stay open while we begin to incorporate all these savings that we’re finding through the DOGE effort and … other sources of revenue.”
Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security aren’t mentioned in the package at all.
Overall, staffers said this package provides $7 billion in savings over current funding levels.
Republican leadership has referred to the package as a “clean” CR, describing a CR without extraneous provisions.
The legislation is likely to face some challenges in both chambers of Congress.
Historically, many Republicans’ hardline opposition to CRs as such has led GOP leadership in both chambers to rely on Democrats’ help to pass such legislation. This time, however, that help may not be forthcoming.
In the lower chamber, Johnson reigns over an effective single-seat majority.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a long-time opponent of CR legislation on principle who’s shown himself willing to break with his conference on major issues already, could oppose the bill outright.
If Massie or some other House Republican takes a hardline stance against the package, Johnson won’t be able to spare any other defections with Democrats’ help.
And Democrats have made clear they won’t provide such help.
In a statement, House Democratic leadership said, “The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits,” a reference to the bill’s zeroing out of the Toxic Exposures Fund. [delete]
“Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year,” the statement continued.
They vowed to vote “no” on the package, but it’s unclear whether the bill will be whipped.
Should it pass the House in its current form, it could also face challenges in the Senate, where it would need at least 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
Several Senate Republicans have also historically opposed CR bills outright.
Traditionally, this hasn’t been a significant hurdle, as most CR legislation that makes it to the upper chamber wins bipartisan support.
Some Senate Democrats—like Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)—have already indicated openness to passing a CR on grounds of avoiding a government shutdown.
However, it’s unclear if the bill could win the 60 votes it would need to proceed to final passage.
—Joseph Lord
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