WASHINGTON—With a government shutdown deadline approaching at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, several Republican senators are signaling their opposition to the House’s continuing resolution (CR), leaving its fate uncertain as the Senate scrambles to prevent a crisis.
The House, which passed the bill before adjourning for a two-week recess, left the Senate to finalize the measure. However, key Republican senators are expressing serious concerns about its provisions—raising doubts about whether it can pass.
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“I would not vote for this CR,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) told reporters Wednesday. Meanwhile, Semafor reported that Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) were also likely “no” votes, further complicating Republican efforts to secure passage.
Even moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) expressed uncertainty, stating she was unaware of everything in the bill and was alarmed by significant budget cuts affecting Washington, D.C. “That was not a provision that was in the Senate bill or anything that we advocated for. It came as a surprise to me, and explains why the mayor has called me,” Collins said.
Back home, The Bangor Daily News reported that the House bill could result in severe budget cuts to Maine, impacting projects that Collins and Sen. Angus King (I-ME) had helped secure through earmarks. Despite these concerns, Maine Rep. Jared Golden (D) was the only Democrat in the House to support the CR, despite the funding cuts to his state.
Adding to the controversy, WGME reported that President Donald Trump’s budget cuts had already led to civilian staff layoffs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard this week. A union leader criticized the decision-makers, stating they “are not educated about the business end of what we do.”
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) also opposed the CR, calling its cuts to Washington, D.C.’s budget “purely mean-spirited” and “outrageous.” His fellow Virginia senator, Tim Kaine (D), said he was looking to attach amendments to salvage the bill, but with the House already adjourned, any changes would require their return—an unlikely scenario. Kaine, who met with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday, criticized the restrictions placed on the district’s budget, calling them “troubling.”
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“It’s one thing if you say, okay, we’re going to reduce federal funding to the district,” Kaine said. “It’s another thing to say we’re going to control your budget so that you can’t even use your own tax revenue to have a budget above X. That’s like—where’s the precedent for that? I mean, it’s just like—I don’t even know how that got in there like that. I don’t know what they’re trying to accomplish. It just seems like a gratuitous eye-poke.”
As Senate Democrats met for a caucus lunch to determine their stance on the CR, discussions also centered on whether they would be blamed for a shutdown. However, with Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and White House, responsibility for any lapse in government funding may rest squarely on GOP leadership.
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