The clock is ticking on another imminent government shutdown, but Republicans can’t square the fact that two of their deepest desires are, in reality, mutually exclusive: more tax cuts for the wealthy, and a long-held goal to decrease the federal deficit.
Conservatives across the spectrum came out in fierce opposition against the House spending bill on Tuesday. The continuing resolution was originally scheduled to be released days ago, but by noon, the actual contents of the spending package were still hidden from lawmakers, fueling concern that the vote will—once again—collide with their Friday deadline to avert a shutdown.
The bill, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson, will fund the government through March 14, giving conservatives a chance to organize and reassess their spending priorities once their Republican trifecta takes effect.
“The CR is coming together, bipartisan work is ongoing,” Johnson told CBS News. “We’re almost there.”
The resolution was intended to be a “very skinny, very simple” stopgap solution, but it was complicated by disaster relief needs related to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Weekend discussions also hit a snag by looping America’s farmers into the spending package, which will offer a one-year extension of the farm bill, according to Politico.
But party members have been less than thrilled by the developments. Missouri Representative Eric Burlison called the continuing resolution a “total dumpster fire” in an interview with C-SPAN.
“I think it’s garbage. This is what Washington, D.C., has done, this is why I ran for Congress to try to stop this,” Burlison told the nonprofit broadcaster. “Sadly this is happening again. I think that it’s shameful that people that celebrate DOGE coming in—and yet we’re going to vote for another billion dollars to be added to [the] deficit. It’s ironic.”
Texas Representative Chip Roy rolled his eyes at the conundrum, telling C-SPAN that the “swamp is gonna swamp.”
“Since we’ve been given the majority again, we’re adding $30 billion in literally, totally unpaid for additional deficit spending, just since November 5—in 45 days,” Roy said. “I don’t see how that’s doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”
“The conference itself owns this. The conference needs to decide whether we’re actually serious about spending.… We’re just fundamentally unserious about spending,” Roy continued, highlighting the fact that his party intends to shift cash away from Social Security, shrinking the time before the program goes bankrupt. “As long as you got a blank check, you can’t shrink government. If you can’t shrink government, you can’t live free.”
Representative Nancy Mace announced in a statement that she would not be supporting the “1,500 page Continuing Resolution”—which, again, has not yet been released.