Signs are increasingly pointing to a full-year government funding patch as Congress barrels toward the March 14 shutdown deadline without a deal on overall spending totals.
President Donald Trump endorsed “a clean, temporary government funding Bill … to the end of September” in a social media post Thursday night. That backing came after Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune discussed the idea with Trump during a meeting Wednesday at the White House, two people familiar with the conversation told our colleague Meredith Lee Hill.
Trump gave his sign-off in that meeting, but the public support will be critical for some fiscal hard-liners who are generally critical of stopgaps, known as continuing resolutions or CRs.
GOP leaders quietly tasked top Senate appropriator Susan Collins with preparing a stopgap through September, she confirmed to Lisa earlier Thursday, though the Maine Republican insisted at the time it was just “one option.”
A complicating factor: Senior Republicans are considering whether to shoehorn cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency into the government funding bill — a move that threatens to ratchet up tensions with Democrats and raise the chances of a shutdown.
That’s a way to potentially win support from some House hard-liners. But it would be a nonstarter for Democrats, who are already balking at Republicans’ refusal to put guardrails in the bill that would stop Trump and Musk from clawing back congressionally approved funding. And the GOP will almost certainly need Democrats here.
Even key Republicans are skeptical of the idea. “I don’t see how that could work,” Collins told reporters.
The big question: Just how “clean” does Trump actually want this bill to be?
What else we’re watching:
- Meeting with Musk: Johnson said on Thursday he’s trying to schedule a meeting between Musk and House Republicans — “either small groups of members, appropriators or maybe all” GOP members. Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott said he’s still yet to schedule when Musk will attend a Senate GOP lunch.
- Nominations: Thune has a fresh batch of nominees to steer through confirmation votes next week, starting with Education secretary pick Linda McMahon on Monday evening. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who advanced favorably from Senate HELP on Thursday, is also on deck for next week, after overcoming a “no” vote from Sen. Rand Paul with the help of three Democrats. Dan Bishop’s nomination as OMB deputy director is advancing toward the floor.
- Tax disputes: GOP leadership still has some tax problems to work out next week. Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith said in a brief interview on Thursday that he’s worried the accounting tactic that the Senate is considering to significantly lower the cost of the plan, at least on paper, might not make it past the Senate’s independent legislative referee. Similarly, during their talks at the White House, GOP leaders and Trump looked at tariffs as another potential way to pay for the president’s tax request.
Meredith Lee Hill, Jordain Carney and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.
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