Trump backs GOP's funding plan, urges lawmakers to 'get it done'

President Trump backed congressional Republicans’ plan to extend government funding and wants lawmakers to “get it done” as the deadline approaches.  

Top congressional Republicans appear to have coalesced around a plan that would extend government funding levels to September. 

“As usual, Sleepy Joe Biden left us a total MESS,” Mr. Trump posted Thursday on social media. “The Budget from last YEAR is still not done. 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!”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, agree that an extension until September, which would effectively be a yearlong funding stopgap, is necessary to avert a partial shutdown. 

And House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, Maine Republican, are getting on the same page about a yearlong extension.

But the push for a stopgap until September comes as Republican and Democratic negotiators are at an impasse on the next steps for the dozen spending bills that fund the government. Mr. Cole and Ms. Collins want to continue hammering out a plan for the funding bills but aren’t keen to cater to their Democratic counterparts’ demands.

The steadfastness of both sides’ positions could threaten a funding extension’s survival.

Democrats want to add language to the 12 annual spending bills that would restrict Mr. Trump from ignoring or shifting funding that Congress approves, a demand that Mr. Johnson has argued is unconstitutional. 

The top-ranking Democrats on the House and Senate Appropriations committees, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, accused Republican leadership of “walking away” from negotiations.

They contended that Republicans plan to codify the Department of Government Efficiency’s spending cuts, which they warned would “give Trump new flexibility to spend funding as he sees fit.”

“Their plan would only help Trump and [Elon] Musk cut off support for our veterans, cancel lifesaving cancer research, and threaten seniors’ Social Security benefits,” the Democrats said in a statement. “As ever, we remain ready to work with our colleagues to pass full-year appropriations bills and invest in families and our national security — and we hope Republicans will return to the table to do just that.”

The president’s backing of a “clean” funding extension means that the measure would be a straightforward continuation of government funding without the DOGE cuts baked in. Mr. Johnson has also expressed his desire to produce a funding extension that is “clean as possible,” throwing more cold water on the likelihood of Mr. Musk’s cuts finding their way into a bill.

Still, Democrats are leveraging their support of a government funding extension over that language. Enough Republicans in the House and Senate routinely vote against government funding extensions that Democratic support will likely be needed to avert a shutdown. 

Mr. Trump’s input could help those among GOP’s ranks to support a temporary extension, but Republicans will still need Democrats in the Senate to avoid a filibuster of the funding bill. 

The last time Mr. Trump waded into a congressional funding conflict was in December, when his demands nearly derailed carefully crafted legislation and plunged the government into a partial shutdown.