Top Democratic appropriators released a short-term funding bill Monday night meant to serve as an alternative to the House Republican plan to fund the government through September as the two parties face off ahead of a Friday midnight shutdown deadline.
The Democratic bill would keep the government running on current funding levels for four weeks in an effort to buy more time for lawmakers to strike a deal on a bipartisan funding package. But GOP leaders have so far shown no interest in the bipartisan talks and are now seeking to push through a seven-month extension.
“There is a very clear alternative to House Republicans’ plan: immediately passing a short-term patch to prevent a senseless shutdown and finishing work on serious, bipartisan funding bills that invest in working Americans, keep our country safe, and ensure our constituents have a say in how federal funding is spent,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top two Democratic appropriators, in a statement.
The new bill gives Democrats a tangible Plan B to tout as they oppose the measure Speaker Mike Johnson plans to bring to a House vote Tuesday. While keeping the government open through Sept. 30, it would also give President Donald Trump’s administration more leeway to shift funding while cutting non-defense spending by $13 billion and increasing defense programs by $6 billion.
Democrats balked at the significant changes to some programs in the Republican stopgap spending bill, including zeroing out accounts that had been allocated to member-directed earmarks in fiscal 2024. Murray and DeLauro say their shorter spending patch “includes only a handful of necessary adjustments to prevent funding issues in the interim and to extend essential health authorizations.”
DeLauro and Murray spent weeks trading offers with Republicans to try to secure a bipartisan government funding deal, but House GOP leaders pivoted to the long-term patch, which Democrats say will give Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk vast leeway to shift federal dollars around.
If the Republican bill passes the House but stalls across the Capitol, GOP leaders are ready to blame Senate Democrats for spurring a government shutdown, which would begin at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.
