WASHINGTON — Congress is careening toward a government shutdown in just 11 days as the discord between the two parties over funding talks grows, with no clear path to reaching a deal.
The government is set to run out of money at the end of next Friday, March 14. Republicans control the House and Senate, but they need Democratic support to pass a funding bill as it is subject to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
Hopes of a full funding deal have faded, so President Donald Trump and congressional leaders are falling back on a short-term bill to keep the government open on autopilot, likely through the end of the fiscal year. But even that is running into obstacles.
“I’m not optimistic. I don’t think we’re going to have a budget,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “My Democratic colleagues have been insistent that we include language limiting the involvement of the executive branch on spending decisions.”
Democrats have pushed to include constraints on Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s attempts to close down or slash agencies without congressional approval. But Republicans say that’s a nonstarter as they support the Department of Government Efficiency-led budget cuts, which they say is about rooting out waste.
“Democrats have to help negotiate this, and they’ve to this point shown no interest in finding a reasonable solution for that,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Sunday on “Meet The Press.”
Johnson called for a measure “to 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 these other sources of revenue that President Trump’s policies are bringing to the table.”
In a statement Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Democrats are interested in a deal that “promotes the economic well-being, health and safety of everyday Americans.” But he added that “there has been zero outreach from the Trump administration and House Republicans have walked away from the negotiating table.”
The White House sent Congress a request for add-ons to the bill — or “anomalies” — that includes $32 billion in transfer authority for the Pentagon, which some Democrats consider a slush fund. The request includes a $20 billion cut to Internal Revenue Service enforcement, and an increase in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation operations. The document was viewed by NBC News and authenticated by two sources.
“I think the White House anomaly requests are completely inadequate,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said Monday when asked about the request. “And again, the solution is in front of us: short-term CR, tell our committee to get to work. Democrats are at the table. We are ready to do that.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Appropriations Committee, told NBC News on Monday that she’s “working on a two-track approach” that includes a full-year continuing resolution and a short-term bill of “maybe a month” to give more time for a detailed agreement.
For Johnson, the first question is whether he can find enough votes to pass a stopgap bill in the House with a narrow GOP majority of 218-215. That may require Democratic votes as scores of conservative Republicans routinely vote against funding the government.
Ordinarily, Democrats support short-term bills en masse. But this time, the GOP’s insistence on protecting or codifying the cuts by DOGE has given Democrats a point of opposition to rally around — after they’ve seen grassroots anger from federal workers and veterans. Democrats see the Trump-Musk effort as trampling Congress’ power over spending, and some say they won’t support a bill that lets it continue.
Plus, at least two moderate House Republicans have already blasted the idea of another continuing resolution.
Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, argued that Congress needs to pass regular appropriation bills rather than kick the can down the road with a CR.
“I am a NO on the CR. Congress needs to do its job and pass a conservative budget!,” he wrote on X. “CR’s are code for Continued Rubberstamp of fraud, waste, and abuse.”
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., an Afghanistan and Iraq war veteran, slammed the CR, saying that it would not allow for much-needed additional military funding.
“A continuing resolution (CR) is bad for our military and weakens our national security,” Bacon wrote on X on Sunday, without saying how he’d vote. “A CR means new weapons programs cannot get started. A year-long CR means we are not serious about building a military that will deter China, Russia and Iran.”
But Bacon said Monday that White House officials reached out to him after his social media post and acknowledged that “anomalies” were needed to plus-up military spending.
Johnson huddled with his GOP leadership team as lawmakers returned to the Capitol Monday evening and received support for the CR plan.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said he was on board, even though the stopgap measure doesn’t codify the DOGE cuts cheered by the ultraconservative group. Harris’ comments came just days after all HFC members voted to pass a budget resolution that calls for raising the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
“I think we’re charting new territory here with President Trump and his striving to get government efficiency going,” Harris said as he left the speaker’s office.
Asked if he’s worried about a shutdown, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., an HFC member, replied: “Nah.”
“This town is very interesting. Deals seem to like fall out of the sky when they need to,” Donalds told NBC News, while saying “the Dems are being ridiculous” by opposing DOGE cuts.
Republicans are seeking to juggle a funding bill with an unrelated effort to pass a huge party-line package to advance parts of Trump’s agenda, which has drawn unified Democratic opposition.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Democrats will continue “telling the truth about what the Republicans are trying to do” and said it’s the majority party’s job to make a serious offer.
“The Republicans have the majority,” Warren told reporters on Monday. “They need to put forward a package that can pass the House and the Senate. That’s their job.”
