Earlier this week, the US House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2025. The CR now goes to the Senate where it will be voted on as early as Thursday, March 13.
The Pennsylvania Policy Center strongly urges Pennsylvania senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick to vote against the resolution.
We do this with full recognition that such a vote may lead to a temporary shutdown of the federal government, something we would oppose in normal circumstances.
But in three important respects, the circumstances surrounding this continuing resolution are not normal.
First, as has generally been the case in the past and is true today, passage of the continuing resolution is subject to the filibuster and, as a result, needs bipartisan support. Typically, in these situations, the House and Senate pass a “clean” continuing resolution, which extends current government spending levels that have already been approved by a bipartisan majority.
Instead, this CR makes changes to current spending, increasing defense spending by $6 billion and making $13 billion in cuts to domestic spending. At a time when Democrats have very little ability to influence public policy in the Congress, we believe that they should not give up their remaining power by accepting a CR that violates previous congressional norms.
Second, the CR is being put forward at a time when President Trump, through the instrumentality of the Elon Musk-headed DOGE, has been not only refusing to spend funds already appropriated by Congress but is closing government agencies and firing federal workers. These actions are both illegal and unconstitutional. The US Constitution, in separating powers among the branches of government, plainly gives Congress—not the president—primary authority over taxation and spending. Yet President Trump has repeatedly violated the separation of powers. This is exactly the kind of moment for which the Founders created the system of checks and balances, which allows one branch of government to use its power to stand up to another branch that has violated the separation of powers. But rather than limit President Trump, the CR grants him additional authority to spend federal funds as he sees fit. Rather than endorse it, it is imperative that senators push back against President Trump’s usurpation of congressional power by rejecting the CR.
Finally, the CR has an entirely new provision that forces the government of the District of Columbia to revert to its spending levels from last year. This would force the DC government to cut its budget by roughly $1 billion halfway through the fiscal year. This action has absolutely no implications for the federal budget. Rather, it tells the DC government how to spend the funds it raises from the District’s taxpayers. It is an act that nullifies the current DC budget in an extreme usurpation of the rights of the District to govern itself. This bill would harm that economy and the people of Washington, with its effects also spilling over into Maryland and Virginia. And it is being proposed at a time when the economies of DC, Maryland, and Virginia are already being undermined by illegal reductions in the federal workforce.
For most of its history, the people of Washington, DC, have struggled to rule themselves against congressional majorities that have denied them the right to do so. This action reverses long-standing efforts to right that wrong. And frankly, in light of the fact that DC is majority-Black city, this proposal smacks of the plantation politics that so often has characterized the relationship between the federal government and the people of Washington, DC.
Again, we are reluctant to call for action that would create a temporary shut-down of the government. But the shut-down need not take place or continue for long. Members of Congress have been talking about passing a short-term CR to reopen the government immediately and allow for a truly bipartisan CR to be negotiated in a few weeks.
If only one of these three reasons to reject the CR held, we might make another recommendation. But when the fundamental principles of our Constitution, as well as the right of the people of DC to govern themselves, are at stake, we strongly urge Pennsylvania Senators McCormick and Fetterman to say “no” to this plan.