Looming on the Horizon
Congress reconvenes from their recess next Monday. Nineteen working days later—at midnight on Friday, March 14—the federal government runs out of money. Without new funding, major domestic services and programs will shut down (military & police will continue).
By law, Congress was required to enact the 12 appropriation bills that fund our government for 2025 by the end of September last year. They did not enact a single "budget bill" because of MAGA Republican obstructionism and partisan political manipulation. Since then, funding has been provided by a Continuing Resolution ("CR" or "Stopgap"). The current CR expires on March 14. If they don't pass either the required appropriation bills or a new "stopgap" by then, it's shutdown time.
Last year, House Democrats provided the votes to keep the government open because House Republicans (who held the majority) were divided against themselves. Without Dem votes, they couldn't pass anything except wind. As the price of providing those Dem votes, we urged our Members of Congress (MoC) to reject all of the Republican "poison pill" bigotry, culture-war, and fiscal-extremism demands. To their credit, they did.
Starting next week, the same dynamic will repeat. But there's a new and even more threatening issue. Wannabe monarchs Trump and Musk are engaged in an administrative coup. In an un-Constitutional power-grab, they have illegally started to "impound"—refuse to spend—funds legally authorized by Congress through appropriation bills or CRs. Wailing public statements by Congressional Democrats cannot stop a coup because those determined to unconstitutionally seize power do not care about what Democratic MoCs or everyday Americans think.
Only bold and courageous exercise of democratic power can halt a coup. In the coming weeks, we must demand that our MoC refuse to vote for any appropriation bill or CR until there is a clear and firm understanding with the White House that funds authorized by Congress will be spent for the specified purposes. Even if that means a shutdown.
Republicans now completely control all three co-equal branches of the federal government. If their unconstitutional power-grab or poison pills force a shutdown, that's on them. And it's on us to protest and make clear to the public who is responsible.