Pass the CR And Prepare For the Real Fight

What’s the argument for opposing the new CR being introduced by Speaker Mike Johnson this week? Other than being a continuing resolution, of course, which stink on ice. Congress has gotten into a bad habit over the past 20 years of failing to budget normally and properly. This year is no different, but in that same sense, this CR is both a necessity and better than all of the alternatives. This has been dysfunctional all along, but this isn’t a time to amplify it. 

First off, we’re stuck with the CR process. That ship sailed last year, when Democrats controlled the Senate, Joe Biden was president (ostensibly), and House Republicans spent the year forming circular firing squads. Yes, we could write an entirely new budget instead of a CR for FY2024-25, but we’re nearly halfway through that fiscal year already. We’d have to start that process nearly from scratch too, which means we’d still need a CR to get enough time to work on it. That would take another couple of months at least under regular order — meaning the proper committee process, etc — by which time the rest of the fiscal year would be closer to a fiscal quarter. 

What would we gain from that process? We’d be unlikely to move the needle much at all on spending, and create even more time for splits to emerge in the House Republican caucus with less time to resolve them. That effort is better applied to the FY2025-26 budget, where real opportunities exist for capturing significant spending cuts through DOGE. 

That’s why the White House is pushing the current CR hard with the GOP caucuses in both chambers:

Leavitt: “The President supports this CR and we’re hopeful and expect Republicans to get on board so we can pass it and continue moving forward implementing President Trump’s agenda.” pic.twitter.com/FTpCTKdOQO

— Gabriela Iglesias🇺🇲 (@iglesias_gabby) March 9, 2025

Donald Trump is getting personally involved in the push:

The House and Senate have put together, under the circumstances, a very good funding Bill (“CR”)! All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week. Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s “financial house” in order. Democrats will do anything they can to shut down our Government, and we can’t let that happen. We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right. VERY IMPORTANT. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Not only is this a (relatively) clean CR, it actually reduces spending — a little. This CR reduces spending by around $7 billion compared to the current annual spending levels in the previous budget and CR. It removes $13 billion in previously approved spending as rescissions rather than redistributions. It creates more flexibility in previously approved defense spending amounting to around $8 billion while adding $6.6 billion to the Department of Defense budget overall. It boosts funding for ICE’s efforts to round up and deport criminal illegal aliens, which Tom Homan warns is needed to keep increasing the rate of arrests that have already ramped up in the first two months of Trump’s second term. 

It leaves everything else alone, however, which is why Trump and his allies insist this is a “clean” CR. As CRs go, that’s about as clean as they come, and about the best we can expect to pass at this time. The real fight will come later, although not much later, when the FY2025-26 budget resolution’s reconciliation bills can start getting floor votes. And we can’t get to that without first settling FY2024-25.

It also represents an opportunity to turn the tables on Democrats. They usually set up Republicans for blame on government shutdowns by claiming that the GOP has created budget trickery in their CRs. This time, however, it’s both clean and transparent, which leaves nothing more than sheer obstruction as a reason to vote against it:

Republicans are challenging Democrats to vote against the CR, which avoids a shutdown, after Dems warned about its dangers three months ago. Trump urged a “Yes” vote on the CR, with Speaker Johnson planning a vote Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/zFYAQoqoTO

— Breaking News of the Day (@Breakingne66541) March 9, 2025

If all Republicans vote for the CR, then Democrats will be irrelevant anyway. The CR is not subject to a filibuster in the Senate, and according to Roll Call in the link above, John Fetterman (D-PA) plans to vote in support of the CR when it comes to the upper chamber. But it will be a way to expose Democrats as being mindlessly obstructionist when they won’t even vote for a relatively clean CR that keeps spending authorizations within $7 billion of current levels — when Americans are clamoring for far deeper cuts in deficit spending. 

There is no downside to voting in favor of this CR for Republicans. There is a huge downside for House GOP factions to gum up the works and force a shutdown over peanuts at this stage. Let’s light this candle and move on to the fights that matter. 

Update: The first sentence was missing when this first published. I also added a sentence to the end of the first paragraph as well.