President Donald Trump laid out a grand vision for his presidency Tuesday night. His goals are wide-ranging, and the impact of his first 45 days has already beaten every president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One shadow loomed over the entire evening, however: the March 14 deadline to fund his administration.
It’s easy to be distracted by all the action taking place in Washington these past six weeks, but this single issue matters more than much else for the future of this White House. As one senior West Wing staffer told the Beltway Brief, “Funding President Trump’s government is all that matters. It’s absolutely essential.”
Details and tactics aside, funding is the battle — and the hardest test of congressional Republican unity (and Democratic resistance) this administration has yet faced.
A number of obstacles stand in the way of that funding. First: The House of Representatives, where House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can’t lose a single vote after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has already said he’s a “no.” Matters are further complicated by Johnson’s terrible habit of saying “yes” to everyone who asks for something. He can’t actually get everyone the things they want, so the end result is that he has a habit of ticking off multiple parties in the final stretches of major deals.
Then, Johnson has to contend with the conservatives, who are angry at continuing President Joe Biden’s funding levels and want to codify DOGE cuts; moderates, who would like some earmarks to sweeten the pot; and then the DOGE itself, where Elon Musk could take issue with any earmarks that would make the moderates happy.
Next there’s the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) must attract seven Democrats to get him to the 60-vote threshold he needs to pass a continuing resolution — on paper. The reality is much harder.
It’s important to remember that continuing resolutions are essentially a Democrat thing, and a goodly number of Republicans almost always vote against them.
In the past, you’re looking at 30-odd Republican yes votes on continuing resolutions. Traditionally, they’re carried by Democrats. Thune is unlikely to get Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s vote, for example, and will also have an uphill fight for Republicans like Mike Lee (Utah), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Ron Johnson (Wis.), to name a few. So what then?
A good deal of the conservative charm offensive falls on Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, an influential D.C. conservative with years of built-up credit with the GOP’s fiscal hawks. Blaze News’ own Rebeka Zeljko
broke the news Tuesday that Vought had met privately with the House Freedom Caucus on Monday night — and that Trump would be following up Wednesday. Both meetings went well and bode well for the House’s ability to pass the bill.
“Vought made several points to the members in the room, noting that the Trump administration’s impressive momentum would be stifled by an abrupt government shutdown,” Zeljko reported. “Additionally, passing a clean CR would allow Republicans to avoid negotiation with Democrats to pass a pork-filled omnibus bill.”
“Insurgencies require momentum to stay alive,” one source familiar with that discussion told Blaze News.
Additionally, Vought is a vocal proponent for “impoundment,” or the White House leaving parts of the money appropriated by Congress in the Treasury. This power was used by presidents from Thomas Jefferson through Richard Nixon, when Congress passed a law against the practice. While he was grilled on the subject during his confirmation process, Vought never backed off his stance that law is unconstitutional and would not survive a proper challenge at the Supreme Court.
Thune does have one card in his hand: Modern Democrats are loath to shut down the government, meaning that if he can keep conservative additions (like the DOGE) out of the continuing resolution, he’s got a chance of bringing their votes on board.
Then again, the Democrats are also hungry for a win against the administration’s momentum. Democrats from leadership on down are enraged by Musk’s DOGE cuts, and for the first time in decades, they’re hungry for a fight. If Tuesday night’s antics are any indication, that hunger could very well lead to a shutdown. (Though it’s hard to see how it helps them any more than their widely panned protests.)
Details and tactics aside, funding is the battle — and the hardest test of congressional Republican unity (and Democratic resistance) this administration has yet faced.
“People are worried about funding President [Joe] Biden’s priorities,” one senior White House staffer told Beltway Brief, “but this isn’t his government; it’s President Trump’s. These are his priorities.”
And how many Republicans are willing to shut that down?
The matter may come down to Democrats’ tolerance for pain from a shutdown. It won’t be like President Barack Obama’s, when World War II veterans were blocked from visiting their own memorial and water fountain handles were removed from national parks.
This time, the Trump White House gets to decide what is essential and what is not. It’s hard to say you’re fighting the DOGE by empowering the president to pick and choose what’s funded
because of your vote. But after Tuesday’s speech antics, it’s hard to tell how erratic the protest party will get.
Blaze News: Russ Vought meets with House Freedom Caucus to stoke support for clean CR, Trump to follow
Blaze News: Senate Republicans identify tool White House can use to make spending cuts stick — but there’s a catch
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Opinion & analysis, Politics
