The government-funding frenzy is in full swing on Capitol Hill with nine days to go before a potential shutdown, and the state of play is simple enough: It’s appropriators vs. GOP leaders.
With the March 14 deadline bearing down, the heads of the two Appropriations panels are finalizing a bipartisan deal on government funding totals for fiscal 2025 — Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democratic appropriator in the House, said it’s “imminent.”
But Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders aren’t much interested in what appropriators are cooking up. Leadership has its own plan — a continuing resolution, or CR, through September — and Johnson’s plowing ahead with putting it on the floor next week.
One catch: There are a whole lot of House Republicans who have never voted for a CR before, and getting them to play along this time is crucial. Because of the anger over Trump’s slashing of the federal bureaucracy, Democrats who usually put those stopgaps over the finish line probably won’t be on board this time.
So it fell to Trump himself to make the sale to the House’s fiscal hawks at the White House Wednesday, and he seemed to make some progress. Rep. Eric Burlison said he’s now open to supporting a CR. And two key Freedom Caucus members — Rep. Chip Roy and Chair Andy Harris — told reporters other holdouts will eventually get on board.
What else we’re watching:
- DCCC 2026 frontliners: House Democrats’ campaign arm is out with its list of top incumbents to defend in 2026 — and it has some new additions that reflect shifts toward Donald Trump in some majority-Latino congressional districts, Nicholas Wu scoops. Among the newest Frontliners: Texas Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, Nevada Rep. Dina Titus and New Jersey Rep. Nellie Pou.
- Tax talks: The Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Wednesday that he doesn’t yet have enough support within his conference to use a controversial accounting tactic to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent. Some House conservatives are also against using what’s known as the current policy baseline to make it seem as if extending the tax cuts costs nothing.
- Protest censure: The House is expected to vote on censuring Rep. Al Green today after voting 211-209 on Wednesday to keep the effort alive. Green himself voted “present” on Wednesday after saying he was willing to face the consequences for his actions.
Nicholas Wu and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.