President Trump was quick to throw his support behind the House GOP’s stopgap funding bill Saturday afternoon, calling it a “very good funding bill.”
“The House and Senate have put together, under the circumstances, a very good funding Bill (“CR”)! All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week,” he wrote on Truth Social shortly after the text was unveiled.
“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,” Trump added.
The comments come after House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), unveiled a six-month stopgap government funding plan on Saturday that seeks cuts to nondefense programs while boosting funding for defense. It would fund the government through September.
The roll-out of the continuing resolution (CR) kicks of a crucial time for GOP leadership to appeal to its base ahead of the March 14 shutdown deadline, when government funding is set to lapse. Democrats have already signaled that they will not support a Republican-backed bill without assurances that Trump will use money exactly how it is appropriated.
The president took a swipe at Democrats in his Saturday message, appealing again to Republicans to pass the CR and avert a shutdown.
“Democrats will do anything they can to shut down our Government, and we can’t let that happen,” he continued in the post. “We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right. VERY IMPORTANT.”
Republican leaders said before the bill text was revealed that it was crafted in close coordination with the White House. Conservative hardliners, who have long opposed CRs, have also signaled they are open to supporting the Trump-backed strategy.
Negotiators on both sides of the aisle were once optimistic about striking a bipartisan deal to fund the government through fiscal 2025, but they have struggled to reach an agreement. Tensions have only widened as the administration continues to lay off thousands of federal workers as part of the president’s sweeping efforts to reshape the government.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said earlier this week that Republicans are on their own to pass a bill.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, also voiced strong criticism of the funding plan on Saturday, placing much of the blame on Trump and his senior adviser Elon Musk.
“I strongly oppose this full-year continuing resolution, which is a power grab for the White House and further allows unchecked billionaire Elon Musk and President Trump to steal from the American people,” she wrote on social platform X.
“My Republican colleagues have handed power to an unelected billionaire,” she added.
