How will Congress avoid a government shutdown? What to know
Democratic Rep. Al Green removed during President Trump’s speech
House speaker Rep. Mike Johnson had Democratic Rep. Al Green removed during President Donald Trump’s speech.
WASHINGTON – There’s one week to go until federal funding dries up and the U.S. government shuts down if Congress can’t pass legislation by March 14.
Yes, Americans have seen this show before, particularly during President Donald Trump’s first term and most recently right before Christmas last year when the Republican was preparing to take office for a second time.
Americans have felt it too. A shut down would force a majority of federal workers to stop working and go without pay. Services deemed essential – such as border protection, air traffic control and power grid maintenance as well as payments for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – would continue.
But other services would be interrupted. Services at national parks would be closed, environmental and food inspections would stop, researchers at the National Institutes of Health would not be able to admit new patients, and Internal Revenue Service tax help may be interrupted.
Right now, Republican leaders in both chambers say they want to extend current funding, known as a “continuing resolution” or “CR,” through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Thursday that the details of the proposal will be available as soon as Friday. A floor vote is expected Tuesday, and the Louisiana lawmaker said he thinks there will be enough Republicans on board to successfully pass it.
But Congress is also renown for being a place full of independent operators and where deals get made one moment but then rejected later with a single tweet. Here’s what you need to know about where things stand as Congress seeks to avoid a shutdown in the opening months of the new Trump administration:
Who supports the plan?
Trump and both Republican leaders, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, argue that a yearlong funding extension that echoes their December deal during the final days of the Biden administration is the best way to avoid a government shutdown and quickly turn attention back to the new president’s agenda.
But absent Democratic support for that proposal, it can only afford to lose one GOP vote in the House, where Republicans currently control the chamber 218-214.
Trump met with members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus – which includes several members who typically raise concerns with funding extensions – at the White House earlier this week to convince them to avoid a shutdown.
Afterward, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., said the members support the president and will “work toward getting that continuing resolution in the form where we can pass it.”
Since then, several fiscal conservatives who have previously opposed funding extensions have said they don’t plan to stand in the way.
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“You’re telling me, as a conservative, you’re going to freeze spending for six months, hold the defense hawks at bay, get everybody in a room and keep getting DOGE transparency … we can use to inform (the next funding package)? I’m good with that,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Thursday, referencing tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Extending current funding levels would, in effect, be a funding cut for many federal programs as costs have risen and needs have changed. Some national security-minded Republicans have raised concerns about how an extension would hurt military capabilities, but GOP leadership is seeking to add adjustments to make up for it.
Johnson also briefly floated the idea of tweaking the funding extension to reflect the mass firings and program cuts implemented by Musk’s team – a plan that would have been met with strong opposition from Senate Democrats, who have a say in funding process because it must clear a 60-vote filibuster threshold. Republicans control the Senate 53-47.
But Republican leaders appear to have abandoned that plan in favor of clawing back funding from those programs later in a separate bill.
“We will not be funding fraud, waste and abuse that’s already been discovered. As soon as that’s qualified and quantified, it’ll be codified, in that sequence,” Johnson said earlier this week.
Who opposes it?
Democrats in both the House and Senate have said Republicans cannot count on them to help keep the government open – as they have had to in the past – if they aren’t given a say in the package.
“Republicans are responsible for funding the government. They have all three branches,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday, adding that their GOP counterparts haven’t attempted to negotiate with them on the plan yet. “We believe, we’ve always believed, the only solution is a bipartisan solution.”
Democrats have been pushing for reassurance that any funding package could not be changed or ignored by the president once it is made into law, a reflection of the party’s fury over DOGE cuts they argue violate the separation of powers. That’s a nonstarter for Republicans, and some Democrats have said they need to stand firm.
However, Schumer has also been clear that he does not want to risk a government shutdown – and only seven Senate Democrats would need to side with Republicans in order to fund the government.
One Republican in the House, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has said he will not vote for the full-year funding extension pushed by his party’s leaders. That means Republicans cannot lose one more vote in the House and still succeed.
What will happen next?
Many lawmakers say they won’t make up their mind about the proposal until they see the details.
Leaders say those details are likely to come Friday or over the weekend, allowing lawmakers to read the bill before the House votes on it on Tuesday.
If it includes conservative priorities beyond funding the government, it is likely to run into additional trouble with Democrats.
The top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations Committee have also been pushing for a shorter funding extension that could buy them more time to finalize full funding bills, which could be a back-up plan if the full-year extension can’t get past the political minefields.
What happens during a government shut down?
During a government shutdown, all employees and functions that are not considered “essential” stop working.Federal workers who are considered “nonessential” are furloughed without pay until the government reopens. The longest government shutdown was 35 days, from Dec. 2018 to Jan. 2019, during Trump’s first term. There were two other government shutdowns in Trump’s first term.
Essential benefits like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid payments would continue, as would mail delivery under the U.S. Postal Service. Food benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and military veterans benefits would also continue.
However, services at national parks would close, security reviews to help defend against hacking would stop, civil litigation in courts would stop, and environmental and permitting reviews would stop. Air traffic controllers would continue to work, though there have been problems with absenteeism during previous shutdowns.
