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Congress must pass a budget by Friday at midnight or the government shuts down. Speaker Mike Johnson is going to ask the House to vote on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government. Normally, Congress agrees on a budget with “top line” numbers for expenditures. Committees then decide on the specifics of how to spend those funds. When it cannot agree on a budget, it passes a CR to keep the government open. A CR means that Congress keeps the top line numbers the same as those in the previous budget and sets a new deadline to come up with a new budget.
The GOP House has not been able to pass a budget since it took power in 2023. Since 2023, the GOP House has been so divided that first Kevin McCarthy and then Mike Johnson relied on Democrats to keep the government open. They agreed to pass the CR as long as spending levels were where they were set under Biden. Hard core MAGA representatives wanted to see more cuts. This week, Johnson will be able to pass a CR if he gets every single Republican to vote “yes.” Democrats have pledged to vote no as a caucus, but we need to call our representatives and remind them that you want them to vote no.
House Democrats are opposing the CR because they know that operating the government with only top line numbers and no specifics from the committees will allow Trump and Musk to reallocate money within departments. For example, Musk could reallocate funds from current communications providers to Starlink. Further, Democrats are wondering what is the point of agreeing to fund the government if Trump continues his illegal impoundment of funds as allocated by Congress?
If the House passes the CR, it requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass the filibuster. The GOP needs only six Democratic senators to overcome the filibuster since John Fetterman has already said he would vote for the CR.
Democrats in the Senate are between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, Musk would probably be happy with a government shutdown so that he can use it as an excuse to continue his illegal gutting of our government and to assert even more control of taxpayer dollars. Also, federal workers and those in government-adjacent jobs would suffer the brunt of the consequences of a government shutdown.
However, we believe that Senate Democrats should use a filibuster threat to compel a shorter CR to force the GOP’s hand sooner and grant less time for Trump and Musk to continue their illegal dismantling of the government. Unfortunately, it is possible that we will feel short-term pain if the government shuts down, but it will be less than the long-term pain if we let the GOP run amok with their cruel and illegal government takeover. If the CR passes, the GOP loses control of the budget. They will have to create a budget by turning the top line numbers over to the committees. At that point, it will be transparent that they are slashing Medicaid benefits to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. Republican House members in swing districts will be the most vulnerable as their voters feel the impacts of the cuts.
The filibuster is one of the last tools the Democratic senators have at their disposal to fight the Trump/Musk coup using senate institutional procedures. If Democratic senators refuse to provide the votes to overcome the filibuster, they are sending a clear message to the GOP that Democrats have a tool and are willing to use it. If they “obey in advance” by refusing to use the filibuster, the last remaining item in their toolkit is useless.