Rep. Thomas Massie is right — the awful continuing resolution pushed by Donald Trump and Mike Johnson simply prolongs the disastrous Biden budget of last year.
It is astounding to me that Trump still believes media hype and Democrat threats rather than paying attention to his voters. His voters, in fact, are delighted to see a government shutdown if it means we actually get the cuts we were promised, especially the much vaunted DOGE cuts that will become largely irrelevant if the CR passes. Not to mention both Trump and Johnson swore to us that there would be no more such CRs. If the GOP was determined to slash spending, they could do so, as Democrats have managed to pass many unpopular budgets and bills by being aggressive. Unfortunately, Republicans always presume defeat even before heading into a fight.
A government shutdown affects only some government workers; it does not bring the country to a grinding halt or even affect a high number of federal employees (up to 85% of government, including Medicare, will still function). It simply pauses non-essential funding. Democrats, as usual, are being much more aggressive and propagandistic to achieve their ends, freaking the Republicans out with the threat of a shutdown in order to ensure that Biden‘s budget will live another day like the Frankenstein monster it is. In every other such situation, the majority of voters (and especially a significant majority of Republicans) preferred a government shutdown to more government spending that is unconstitutional and which we simply cannot afford. And now the majority of voters support DOGE’s cuts, so you can bet the CR won’t be popular.
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Rep. Massie was absolutely right when he replied to Trump and Johnson touting the new CR by saying, “Who wants to tell them? By continuing 2024 appropriations into 2025 with a ‘Continuing Resolution,’ Congress just locked in a large portion of the Biden agenda for the first nine months of Trump’s presidency.”
How is passing the CR anything but a lose-lose situation? It continues Biden‘s budget, which we know now was absolutely catastrophic, it is almost certain to outrage Republican voters and irritate voters in general, and it shows the Trump administration caving even during its honeymoon phase. Meanwhile, trust in media has hit a historic low, so you can be certain that voters will not be caring about the doom shutdown rhetoric from leftist media stooges, certainly not as much as Trump, Johnson, and too many other Republican politicians seem to care.
Government shutdowns reveal how little the federal government improves Americans’ lives. All essential services continue uninterrupted. @DOGE can cut everything else. This could be the most optimal outcome. https://t.co/4aSanJnm0U
— Steve Friend (@RealStevefriend) March 13, 2025
Only last year Trump was calling a similar CR “political malpractice” and a “nasty TRAP.” In December, he railed against a “clean” CR, i.e., without major changes/cuts, which is what the new CR is. Before Trump said he was going to primary Republicans who passed a clean CR, now he wants to primary the Republican who is trying to stop the CR. So what changed? The fact that Trump is back in office and now his people are in charge of the irresponsible spending?
The continuing resolution is NOT what we voted for. We were promised significant political change, huge cuts, defiance to the loser Democrats, and most especially no more disastrous CRs. If Trump, Johnson, and co. cannot even stand strong against the defeated Democrats and the RINOs this early in his presidency, that is a very ominous sign.
