Newsletter: The Government Funding Fight in Washington

The following email newsletter was sent on Thursday, March 13th. 

Dear friends, 

On Tuesday, the House passed a Continuing Resolution (“CR”), a six-month bill to fund the federal government until the end of September. I voted against this bill, along with 212 other Democrats, because I do not believe in giving a free pass to Elon Musk and President Trump to continue on their destructive path.

Now this measure is with the Senate, and we are waiting to see what happens.  

My team is closely monitoring the Senate vote. We will provide resources via email and on my website in the event of a government shutdown. In the meantime, I want to share some answers to the questions my office has been hearing most often when it comes to this government funding deadline.

What is a Continuing Resolution? What’s in this one?

This Continuing Resolution extends current government funding through September. It essentially extends current spending levels until then, with some exceptions. The measure excludes $22.8 billion in advance funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans exposed to burn pits, and freezing more than $20 billion in funding that was intended to help the IRS provide better customer service during tax season.

I have said before that bouncing from CR to CR is a terrible way to govern. This particular measure is even worse because it cuts funding that local communities rely on. Congress is supposed to set our spending levels based on the evolving needs of our country. It goes through an extensive appropriations process every year, but what has effectively just happened in Tuesday’s vote is Congress skipping over the budget for this fiscal year.

Sadly, this bill failed to include all Community Project Funding including any of our chosen projects for the North Shore. I had fought to secure $14.3 million for projects across the 6th District this year, and they had cleared the numerous hurdles in the earlier stages of the appropriations process. All of that funding was removed from the bill at the final stage by Republicans. It’s not just our community, every district in the country now misses out on important funding this year.

If this bill is mostly just continuing last year’s spending levels – which Democrats agreed to in 2024 – why did I vote against it?

I voted against this bill because I refuse to grant more power for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to make a mockery out of our federal government. A vote for this bill would be a tacit endorsement of more unproductive DOGE cuts that are going to make our government less efficient in the long run. At a time when Elon and the Trump Administration are ignoring Congress, ignoring the law, and creating chaos, the last thing we should do is hand them a blank check.

I hear all day from constituents who are sick and tired of the chaos and lawlessness. Democrats in Congress need to send the message that we will not enable this craziness.

What happens next?

The bill passed the House with 217 votes for and 213 votes against (1 Republican voted No and 1 Democrat voted Yes). It now heads to the Senate where it must pass before this Friday, March 14th, at midnight, to avoid a shutdown. 

The bill will require 60 votes in the Senate, so at least 8 Democratic Senators will need to vote for cloture on the bill to avoid a shutdown given the stated opposition by one Republican Senator. It’s not yet clear what Democrats in the Senate will do.

So does this mean that the Republicans have succeeded in slashing Medicaid?

Not yet, but they are trying.

Republicans want to slash Medicaid to cut taxes for billionaires who often pay less than the rest of us. That plan is moving in a process called “reconciliation" which is separate from this week's funding bill and will likely take months to play out.

Republicans have already laid out their end goal: $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending on healthcare, long-term care, and food aid, plus $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This would add trillions to the deficit. As we learned recently, it is impossible to accomplish this agenda without large cuts to Medicaid. Cutting Medicaid to enrich people who already avoid paying taxes is a non-starter. I will continue to oppose this plan at every turn.