Where things stand as Congress tries to avoid a partial government
shutdown in two weeks
[March 01, 2025]
By KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — As House members finished voting for the week and left
Washington, the lead Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee,
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, voiced frustration that Republicans had yet to
respond to her latest offer on a full-year spending bill, even though it
had been made five days earlier.
Meanwhile, her Republican counterpart outright dismissed Democratic
efforts to include assurances in the legislation that funding approved
by Congress would be spent by President Donald Trump's administration as
lawmakers intended.
“A Republican Senate and a Republican House are not going to limit what
a president can do, particularly when he has to sign the bill,” said
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.
The exchanges demonstrate the divides that remain as the nation
approaches a March 14 deadline to avoid a partial federal government
shutdown.
Such deadlines have become commonplace in recent years with lawmakers
almost always working out their differences in the end, or at least
agreeing to a short-term funding extension.
But with Republicans now in charge of the White House and Trump
sidestepping Congress on previous funding decisions, a more contentious
dynamic has emerged during negotiations, raising questions about whether
lawmakers will avoid a shutdown this time.
Here's a look at where things stand.
First things first: How much to spend?
The stage for the current negotiations was set nearly two years ago when
then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then-President Joe Biden worked
out a two-year budget deal that would essentially hold non-defense
spending flat for 2024, while boosting it slightly for defense. The
agreement provided for 1% increases for both in 2025.
Democrats want to adhere to that agreement, which would bring defense
spending to about $895.2 billion and non-defense to about $780.4
billion. Republicans are looking to spend less on non-defense programs.
Cole has argued Republicans are not bound to an agreement negotiated by
two men no longer in office.
It's unclear how much the two sides disagree on an overall spending
amount. But Sen. Patty Murray, the lead Democrat on the Senate
Appropriations Committee, said they weren't far apart.
“We are close on topline spending, but we need to know Republicans are
willing to work with us to protect Congress’ power of the purse — and I
welcome any and all ideas they may have on how we can work together to
do just that,” Murray said.
With Trump and Musk slashing government, Democrats want guarantees
Trump pushed early to pause grants and loans potentially totaling
trillions of dollars while his administration conducted an
across-the-board review of federal programs. A subsequent memorandum
purported to rescind the pause.
Still, a federal judge issued an order earlier this week as a backstop.
The preliminary injunction continued to block the pause. The judge said
the freeze had “placed critical programs for children, the elderly, and
everyone in between in serious jeopardy.”
Meanwhile, Trump has empowered Elon Musk to help engineer the firing of
thousands of federal employees and potentially shutter entire agencies
created by Congress.
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to appropriate money and
requires the executive to pay it out. A 50-year-old law known as the
Impoundment Control Act makes that explicit by prohibiting the president
from halting payments on grants or other programs approved by Congress.
Democrats have sought to place in the spending bill some guarantees the
administration would follow what Congress intended.
“What we've been talking about is the numbers, and we're talking about
the issue of assurances,” DeLauro said. “It's trying to make it possible
to have the money go as intended.”
But Republicans are making clear that's a non-starter.
“Democrats are placing completely unreasonable conditions on the
negotiations. They want us to limit the scope of executive authority.
They want us to tie the hands of the president,” House Speaker Mike
Johnson said.
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Why is Congress so late?
The current fiscal year began in October, so lawmakers are already
five month late.
Trump complained Thursday on Truth Social, blaming Biden, saying he
“left us a total MESS.”
“The Budget from last YEAR is still not done. 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 get it done!”
But it was congressional Republicans who opted in December to hold
over budget negotiations for a few months, largely because Trump
would be in the White House. Johnson on Fox News in December urged a
short-term extension so “we get to March where we can put our
fingerprints on the spending. That’s when the big changes start."
What happens if they can't reach an agreement?
The first fallback option is the continuing resolution Trump
endorsed, a stopgap measure that would generally fund federal
agencies at current levels.
“It looks as though it is becoming inevitable at this point,”
Johnson said, blaming Democrats.
That will be tough for defense hawks to accept, as many Republicans
already consider the Pentagon to be underfunded. But it will also be
tough for Democrats who worry that funding for housing programs,
child care, nutrition assistance and other services is failing to
keep pace with inflation, fraying the safety net for many Americans.
Murray and DeLauro issued a joint statement Friday morning, saying
they hoped Republicans would return to the negotiating table and
that “walking away” from bipartisan talks “raised the risk of a
shutdown.”
They also said the continuing resolution being pursued by
Republicans would “give Trump new flexibility to spend funding as he
sees fit.”
“While Elon Musk has been calling for a shutdown, Democrats have
been working to pass bills that make sure Congress decides whether
our schools or hospitals get funding — not Trump or Musk,” the two
Democratic lawmakers said.
The White House has submitted to lawmakers a list of what are
referred to as “anomalies” that it wants to see added to a
continuing resolution. For example, it wants an additional $1.6
billion to increase pay for junior enlisted service members by an
average of 10% effective April 1. Congress has also supported a pay
increase in previous legislation.
The White House is also seeking $485 million for more immigrant
detention beds and for removal operations at U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. The request also seeks to give Trump more
flexibility on how money within certain departments is spent. For
example, the White House wants language allowing $30 billion in
Department of Defense transfers.
Democrats will want to negotiate some of the changes the White House
is seeking, adding to the uncertainty of reaching a final agreement.
Republicans likely need votes from the other side
Getting spending bills over the finish line has required support
from both parties. Some Republicans never vote for continuing
resolutions. Nearly three dozen House Republicans voted against the
last one in December, and they now only have a one-vote cushion to
work with in the House if Democrats withhold their support.
If talks break down completely, funding for agencies will end at
midnight March 14. Both parties will pin the blame on the other —
and some of that is already happening.
Trump is no stranger to shutdowns. He presided over the longest one
in the nation's history, one that lasted 35 days, with Trump
relenting only after intensifying delays at the nation’s airports
and another missed payday for hundreds of thousands of federal
workers brought new urgency to resolving the standoff.
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Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.
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