House Passes Continuing Resolution, Senate Dems Face A Choice

March 12, 2025

House Passes Continuing Resolution, Senate Dems Face A Choice

by Deanna Fisher in politics Post Comment

Speaker Mike Johnson, with President Trump’s help, has pulled off a near-miracle in the House of Representatives.

The continuing resolution, which will fund the government until the end of September, passed the House on a near-party line vote of 217 to 213. It was near-party line because one Republican and one Democrat switched places to vote against their majorities.

The chamber cleared the continuing resolution (CR) in a largely party-line 217-213 vote, with just one Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) — bucking his party’s leaders to back the measure. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the lone GOP “no” vote.

The legislation would fund the government through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, while boosting funds for defense programs and imposing cuts to nondefense funding. Current funding expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday.

“This was a big vote on the House floor, the Republicans stood together and we had one Democrat vote with us to do the right thing, and that is to fund the government,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said after the vote.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where its future hangs in the balance.

House Democrats could play spoiler and not vote for this continuing resolution at all, because there was no downside for them in letting the government shut down. Does this bill give Republicans everything they want? Absolutely not. Is this the best that can be done while a “big beautiful bill” is hammered out? Representative Chip Roy of Texas – no fiscal squish himself – said yes.

Why 6 month spending freeze “CR?” 1) Keep lights on for @elonmusk & DOGE, 2) Dems WANT shutdown to stop Elon, 3) No earmarks, 3) No big omnibus, 4) 72 hrs to read, 5) Set up White House to impound & identify waste 6) set up cuts in fy26, & 7) Freeze / stop spending increase.

— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) March 9, 2025

Yes, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted against it, but Massie votes against everything (and represents a deep red area, so he will face zero consequences for not unifying with Republicans after Trump backed the CR to get the votes in line).

You have to hand it to Speaker Johnson – getting the Republicans to unify on this was a monumental task, and he pulled it off. Now, however, the continuing resolution goes to the Senate – and Senate Democrats are now in the uncomfortable position of either passing the bill, or taking the hit for shutting down the government.

Senate Democrats battled behind closed doors Tuesday over how to handle the House bill, with a number of Democrats — especially those in swing states — arguing a government shutdown must be avoided, even if it means reluctantly voting for a House GOP-drafted bill.

Several centrists warned there’s no clear endgame for ending a government shutdown if Democrats defeat the House-passed measure, which would increase defense spending by $6 billion, boost funding for border security and cut nondefense programs by $13 billion.

The bill passed the House 217-213 Tuesday afternoon, with only one Democrat voting in favor. But the political calculus is different for Democrats in the Senate, because their votes will be needed to avoid a shutdown.

Senate Republicans control 53 seats and would need at least eight Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a staunch fiscal conservative, says he would vote against the stopgap measure for not doing enough to cut the deficit.

Senator Paul can vote against the CR and get away with it (for now), because Democrat votes are still going to be needed to reach that 60 vote mark. One Democrat who has already said he’s on board is John Fetterman, who has not been shy about bucking the Democrats lately on their posturing.

The weeks of performative “resistance” from those in my party were limited to undignified antics.

Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession.

I disagree with many points in the CR, but I will never vote to shut our government down. pic.twitter.com/yhrnmwHUB5

— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) March 11, 2025

Fetterman may have made his intentions known, but it’s going to take more than that – which means Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is going to control what happens next. Does he give the all-clear for Democrats to support the CR in the Senate? Or will he decide that they will all take the hit for a shutdown?

Senate Democrats spent well more than an hour debating how to proceed at their weekly caucus lunch meeting in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room just off the Senate floor.

“The conversation today was divided. I can’t say we have a strategy,” said a Democratic senator who requested anonymity to comment on the internal deliberations. “There are a lot of people who haven’t made a decision.”

The lawmaker said Democrats are worried they would get the blame for a shutdown if they voted to defeat the House bill. The House is out of session for the rest of the week, upping the pressure on Senate Democrats.

“The CR is a terrible bill … but a shutdown has terrible consequences,” the source added. “Elon Musk is trying to shut down the government. If we shut down the government, it takes the blame away from him and it puts the blame on us for chaos and confusion.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to comment about what he and his colleagues discussed in private.

Asked why the meeting dragged on for so long, Schumer joked, “The food was so good, everybody had triples.”

This is why the Republicans unifying in the House was SO important. The ball is now officially in Schumer’s court, and he has a whole lot of Senate Democrats doing the political math – and realizing that they are the ones who will come up short if the government shuts down. After so many years of Republicans constantly being blamed for government shutdowns – sometimes correctly, sometimes incorrectly – the shoe is unmistakably on the other foot. And ooooooh, is it uncomfortable.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told reporters Wednesday that he remains undecided on the seven-month funding bill, which passed the House mostly along party lines Tuesday. Asked when he would make a decision, he quipped he’d make up his mind before the end of the Senate vote on the bill, which hasn’t yet been scheduled.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also didn’t rule out voting for the bill during a brief interview but said that he’s in talks with leadership about trying to get amendment votes to make changes to the legislation.

“We need to try to get some amendments to make it better,” he said.

Democrats are privately wrestling with a politically treacherous choice: They don’t want to be blamed for a shutdown and typically eschew brinkmanship politics. And while they don’t want to risk further empowering President Donald Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk as they slash the federal government, some within the caucus are worried that allowing a government shutdown would only play into the two men’s hands.

One Senate Democrat said Wednesday he will not help pass the bill.

“I do not want to shut down our government, I want to improve it, streamline it and ensure it delivers services our communities need,” Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said in a statement.

Senate Democrats are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and they only have until Friday evening to decide which choice they are going to make – look like they are “giving in” to President Trump, or shutting down the government and risk the wrath of the American public. The clock is ticking. My personal guess? Schumer tells the Senate Democrats to do what they think is best, and washes his hands of the CR, conceding the win to Trump. Yes, they will take the hit from the progressive leftists if they do so – but better that than the hit from the American public. Then again, Democrats are not exactly filled with excellent political judgment at the moment. We’ll all find out soon enough which path they choose.

UPDATE 5 PM EDT
Oh boy.