House Republicans unveiled on Saturday a bill to fund the government at current levels through Sept. 30, “daring Democrats to oppose it and risk being blamed for a government shutdown that would start after midnight Friday,” says The New York Times.
While conservative House Republicans in the past have opposed such spending bills, forcing Speaker Johnson to rely on Democrats to keep the government open, President Trump has called on Republicans to unite and push this bill through so he and Republicans on Capitol Hill can focus on their new budgetary and tax-cutting plans.
“Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s ‘financial house’ in order,” Trump wrote on his social media site on Saturday after Republican leaders unveiled the bill.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who has voted against these bills throughout his career, told reporters that he was “open” to possibly supporting this one after Trump reassured him that DOGE would implement cuts.
Leaders of the congressional spending committees had been in bipartisan talks to find a way to pass the traditional spending bills, which would give Congress more say in how federal funds are spent and test how far the Trump administration was willing to go in defying lawmakers on spending issues.
But as the March 14 deadline has neared, Johnson and administration officials have made the decision that it would be to the White House’s advantage to freeze funding for the year and push through whatever changes they could convince Republicans to accept on mainly party-line votes.
House Democrats aren't expected to help pass the bill this time, The Washington Post and other media report.
Democrats are worried that a long-term funding patch will give Trump and DOGE more control over how money is spent, The Post says, citing multiple lawmakers and aides.
“Congress — not Trump or Musk — should decide through careful bipartisan negotiations how to invest in our states and districts — and whether critical programs that support students, veterans, families and patients get funded or not,” says Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
So Democrats are standing up.
What citizens can do:
The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. But Republican lawmakers appear to be too afraid of Trump to follow through on their oath to protect the Constitution and check presidential power.
Olivia Troye, a first-term Trump White House official who broke with him and spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, says about former members of the “Never Trump” movement:
“We’re in a moment when there’s self-preservation, and I don’t blame people for that. But we need to remind ourselves that we have the power. The only reason that they have the power and are continuing to do what they do is that people are going silent.”
But members of the public are protesting nationwide. Reporters are reporting. Current and former officials are speaking up. For example, In a letter to lawmakers last week, five former defense secretaries who served under Republicans and Democrats — Lloyd Austin, Jim Mattis, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel and William Perry — condemned Trump’s firing of senior military leaders last month and asked that the House and Senate hold “immediate hearings to assess the national security implications of Mr. Trump’s dismissals.”
“We the people,” who the Constitution put in charge — can weigh in this week by calling and emailing our lawmakers. We can let those lawmakers who are standing up know that we support them and encourage them to do it more.
And we can urge the others to defend the institutions they pledged to defend.
If you type your address in this form on the Congress.gov website, you’ll get the contact information for your House representative and your two senators.
Here are other ways to help, from Robert Reich, author, professor and former secretary of Labor under President Clinton, including contacting the White House at 1-202-456-1414 (switchboard) and 1-202-456-1111 (comments).
Here are more suggestions from Reich.