Watch of the government’s closure: GOP goes ahead with a short -term bill while Democrats express the opposition
The congress has a week to adopt a bill of expenditure which would avoid a government closure, but the legislators of the two parties are not on the same wavelength on the way in which they will go ahead.
The president of the Chamber, Mike Johnson, R-La., said that he was aiming to hold a vote on Tuesday in the House on a short-term bill that would finance the government at current levels until September 2025, but the details of the proposal remain vague.
The leaders said they hoped to release the legislative text on Friday, but it will probably slip in the weekend.
“I think we are going to transmit it along the games,” Johnson told journalists on Thursday. “But I think each democrat should vote for that [continuing resolution]. It is a fundamental responsibility that we must finance the government, and a clean CR with some minor anomalies is not something against which they should vote, so we will see what they do. “”
President Donald Trump has put pressure on the Republicans of the Chamber to support the measure, in particular Hard-Liners who generally vote against continuous resolutions.
“The Conservatives will love this bill, because he is preparing us to reduce taxes and expenses in reconciliation, while effectively freezing spending this year,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday.
Chamber Mike Johnson answers a question from the information media as he goes to the Chamber of the Chamber to vote on the Democratic Representative Censorship of Texas Al Green in the American Capitol in Washington on March 6, 2025.
Shawn Thew / Epa-Efe / Shutterstock / Shawn Thew / Epa-Efe / Shutterstock
Johnson can only afford to lose a defection if all members vote and present, which means that he will almost certainly need the help of the Democrats to adopt the measure.
The representatives Thomas Massie, R-Ky., And Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said that they would vote not on a continuous resolution-presenting a challenge for Johnson, who navigates the tight majority of the room.
The Top House Democratic leaders explicitly declared on Friday in a letter to colleagues that they will oppose the Johnson financing bill, arguing that this could lead to programs such as Medicaid.
“The Republicans have decided to introduce a continuous partisan resolution which threatens to reduce the financing of health care, nutritional aid and services of veterans until the end of the current financial year. It is not acceptable,” they wrote.
“We cannot support a measure that snatches health care and retirement services for everyday Americans as part of the republican regime to pay massive tax reductions for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk,” they added. “Medicaid is our red line.”
The head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, accompanied by meaning. Tom Cotton, Shelley Moore Capito, Senator John Hoeven and Senator James Lankford speak to journalists from the American Capitol, February 25, 2025 in Washington.
Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images
Any financing bill will also have to eliminate the Senate, where democratic support will be essential. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Has already promised to vote against legislation, which means that at least eight democrats will be necessary for any financing proposal to be adopted.
Democrats have so far kept their cards near what they will do if they do such a bill. Many Democrats in the Senate say that a continuous resolution of six months, like the one Johnson proposes, would be a “disaster”, but they also expressed little interest in closing the government.
Some Democrats prefer a plan that would see the adoption of a shorter stop measure to allow the completion of work on annual credit laws.
But if Johnson transmits his plan and the house flees Washington, there may be few alternative options that do not trigger at least a brief closure of the government.
Government funding is one of the few areas in which Democrats, which have pushed ways to challenge Elon Musk cuts via the Government Ministry, can affirm their lever effect. It remains to use this bill or not to ensure that this position and risk the government’s closure is visible.
