On Tuesday evening, by a vote of 217-213, the House voted almost entirely along party lines to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that President Donald Trump indicated his support for over the weekend. Vice President JD Vance also spoke to House Republicans earlier on Tuesday to rally support. The push looks to have worked, as only Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against the CR, joining almost all Democrats in the process. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted for the CR.
217-213, House GOP pushes through stop-gap bill. Defections: Massie votes NO. Jared Golden votes YES Senate Dems can block it. Will they?
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) Mar 10, 2025
What makes this CR even more noteworthy is the Republican unity. Given the narrow majority in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could only afford to lose so many votes. Johnson, correctly, predicted that he would only lose one vote.
While House Freedom Caucus (HFC) members have often vigorously opposed CRs in the past, they and their chairman, Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), were in full support this time. HFC members took part in a White House event last week with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, and Harris also spoke at the Republican leaders' press briefing on Tuesday to further double down on supporting the CR.
The next major battle is protecting the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from Democrats' relentless attacks, including potential cuts.
Congress must keep the government open so that DOGE can continue to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in our government. This continuing resolution is necessary to advance President Trump's agenda. I fully support it.
— Rep. Andy Harris, MD (@RepAndyHarrisMD) Mar 10, 2025
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.@freedomcaucus Chair @RepAndyHarrisMD: "I'm 100% behind this continuing resolution. This is not your grandfather's continuing resolution."
— CSPAN (@cspan) Mar 10, 2025
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a HFC member who has been critical of and voted against CRs in the past but was in support this time, shared during a House Rules Committee meeting how this CR will do a number of things." From the House Floor, shortly before the vote took place, Roy continued to call out his Democratic colleagues for their opposition to this CR. He also spoke about once more about the need to protect DOGE and its ability to "expose the absurdity of federal spending!"
The Continuing Resolution (CR) will: - Freeze spending at current levels. - Keep the lights on for @POTUS,@elonmusk, and @DOGE to identify waste, fraud, and abuse in spending. - Allow for the re-modernization of our military. Yet Democrats want to shut down the government?
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) Mar 10, 2025
With the House passing the CR, and since the chamber will thus not be voting on Wednesday, the ball is now completely in the Senate's court. A government shutdown is set for Friday if Congress cannot come up with a plan to fund the government. Will the Senate pass the CR, now that it's already passed the House? At least one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is against it, meaning even more Democrats will need to vote in favor, given the filibuster factor. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has expressed confidence it'll pass the chamber. If not, the blame will almost entirely fall on Democrats, with Republicans like Roy and Thune highlighting how it's Democrats who evidently want to shut down the government, something they claimed last year that Republicans wanted to do.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) even claimed this CR amounted to a Republican shutdown effort and that Republicans wanted to "hurt" Americans, though before the vote took place, Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) took to the floor to call Democrats out for their falsehoods on the CR, and their "fearmongering of the worst sort." He also warned Democrats that they're "only going to make it worse" when it comes to whatever concerns they may have with the actual bill. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) invited his Democratic colleagues to actually read the 99-page bill, as it might encourage them to vote for the bill, rather than talk about what's not in it.
Scalise also reminded that for all this supposed care and concern that Democrats have for federal workers, even bringing many of them fired for not showing up to work to Trump's address before a joint speech of Congress last week as their guests, federal workers would be furloughed under a government shutdown. He had similarly called out Democrats earlier on Tuesday.
As for Massie, Trump has throughout Tuesday put out posts over Truth Social calling for a primary challenger against the libertarian-leaning congressman.
DOGE is finding billions of dollars in wasteful spending, and the Democrats are losing their minds as they realize their gravy train and woke projects are coming to an end.
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