President Trump is scheduled to huddle with a group of House conservatives on Wednesday, as the White House pushes for a clean funding stopgap to keep the government open.
The meeting — which will include members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and other hardliners, including Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) — is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. at the White House, sources told The Hill. The Blaze first reported the meeting.
The gathering comes nearly one week after Trump endorsed a clean continuing resolution (CR) through September to avert a government shutdown after the March 14 deadline. In a post on Truth Social, the president said “We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (‘CR’) to the end of September.”
“Let’s get it done!” he added.
Hardliners traditionally abhor clean CRs. But that instinct is shifting amid the massive changes to the federal government being made by the Trump administration, such as gutting USAID and firing thousands of federal workers — actions that are being challenged in court.
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, spoke to the House Freedom Caucus about keeping the government open so DOGE can keep up its work.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) and other members of the group signed on to a letter with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and other hardline conservatives in both chambers on Tuesday — sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — expressing a willingness to support a stopgap so long as it does not include requests from Democrats that could limit the work of DOGE.
“We stand ready to work with you to ensure the government remains open in a way that preserves President Trump’s options to root out wasteful government spending and fully continues DOGE’s important work,” the letter said. “However, we will not support a government funding package that would be weaponized against President Trump at the very moment he is seeking to make good on the promises he made to the American people.”
The attitudes of hardliners on a CR in wake of DOGE appear to be shifting quickly. Last week, several conservatives asked for cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to be reflected in the stopgap, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) rejected that idea over the weekend.
Some hardliners are reserving judgement on a clean stopgap.
“I’d like to see the DOGE cuts in there, actually, but we’ll see,” said Burchett. “We’ll see what comes out, I don’t know what the final product will be… It’s like the last time, it’ll be, I think we’ll get down to the bottom line, but a flat CR seems to be the way they’re going.”
Others, meanwhile, are signaling that they will be supportive of the eventual measure. Harris, who is also a top appropriator, told reporters he did not mind that DOGE cuts would not be included in the stopgap.
“DOGE has to keep on going and quantify very specifically before we put it in budgetary terms or appropriations terms, and that would probably be appropriate for FY 26 or for a rescission bill,” he said.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a fiscal hawk, said he was open to the idea Tuesday morning, noting that the stopgap would keep spending frozen at current levels for the coming months.
“My bottom line is it’s a step forward, again, based on the world that we’re being given from the White House, that they will continue to do the work, that the president supports it and wants it, I’m comfortable,” he said.
