Congressmen from both parties are preparing to point fingers at one another in the event of a partial government shutdown next month, even if talks to avert the disaster are ongoing.
On March 14, the federal government’s budget will expire. One of the worst budget plans ever will be brought to the floor tomorrow by Republicans, who control Congress and decide whether the government shuts down or not,” wrote Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, on X recently.
Rumor has it that with a little over a week to go before the session ends, Republicans in Congress are considering a continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily extend last year’s federal funding, possibly with some changes to reflect Trump’s priorities, according to AWN Digital’s sources.
To allay the fears of defense hawks, it may also contain more funds for military readiness.
On Thursday night, Trump himself spoke on Truth Social, saying, “We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (“CR”) to the end of September.” “Let’s do it!”
The Democrats’ demands for more guarantees that Trump will not take unilateral action to reduce cash flows that have already been allocated by Congress have reached a breaking point for Republicans.
During a closed-door GOP meeting last week, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) reportedly informed a congressman who spoke with AWN Digital that the Democrats’ asking price was too high.
In a scathing statement published on Friday, the top two Democratic negotiators accused Republicans of “walking away from bipartisan negotiations to fund the government — and raising the risk of a shutdown in so doing.”
Furthermore, Democratic members have been plotting for weeks to cast Republicans in a negative light in the event that a compromise is not possible.
Democrats’ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) avoided answering AWN Digital’s query earlier this week on whether party leaders would urge members to reject a budget measure that did not satisfy their criteria.
“The appropriations process at this moment is in the hands of [House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.] on behalf of House Democrats,” stated the congressman.
In a recent X post, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed his dismay that Republicans are diverting attention away from their duty to prevent a catastrophic government shutdown that would impact millions of American families and toward satisfying the desires of Trump’s rich friends. Families are the target of the Democrats’ struggle.
Any bill providing funds for the government has required the support of Democrats in both houses to be passed and signed into law since the Republicans regained control of the House in 2023.
However, there are Democrats who believe that Republicans will take full responsibility for a government shutdown this year due to their control of the White House and both houses of Congress.
On the other hand, Republicans are prepared to blame Democrats if a shutdown happens since they have accused Democrats of being unreasonable.
“If that happens, that’s because the Democrats do not want to do the necessary work of getting waste and inefficiency out of our government,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla. told AWN’s Bill Hemmer.
Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from California and chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said during his weekly news conference earlier this week that liberals were still playing hardball.
Collaborating with us and our votes to support the government is in their best interest, thus they should cooperate with us. If they depart, that means they’re handling things independently… Putting up votes for no reason is not something we’re interested in, he stated.
We want to provide money to a government that safeguards our neighborhoods, our most defenseless citizens, and our most vulnerable people. The Democratic Party is concerned about those issues. If Republicans aren’t interested in working with us, they’ll need a plan to pay for it with their own votes.
As stated by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Democrats “are at the table negotiating in good faith to fund the government.”
However, both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans. She cautioned Republicans against “following [Elon Musk] toward a shutdown” and emphasized that Republicans should cooperate with Democrats if they want their support.
