Johnson added conservative sweeteners
to the CR, which isn’t “clean” (i.e., a simple extension of current
funding levels for everything) as advertised, but instead adds immediate
money for defense and mass deportation, and cuts domestic spending by
$13 billion. House Democrats already inclined to vote “no” on the CR
because it contains no language forcing the executive branch to actually
spend the money appropriated (which would restrict the power of DOGE or
OMB to unilaterally “freeze” spending, cancel grants or contracts, or
fire personnel) now have even less motivation to keep the government
open. ...
To kill the CR, Democrats would have to launch a filibuster, and in that
circumstance it would be much easier for Republicans to blame the
Donkey Party for shutting down the federal government, despite the clear
intention of the Trump administration to keep gutting the government if
it remains open. If just seven Senate Democrats choose to join
Republicans (or all but Rand Paul, who is demanding deeper cuts; he’s
effectively matched with Democrat John Fetterman, who’s vowed to vote to avoid a shutdown), the CR will pass.
If Senate Democrats
are put to the challenge and subsequently cave, they will have more than
likely forfeited any real Democratic leverage for the remainder of 2025
beyond stirring up public unhappiness with Trump 2.0. Appropriations
aside, most of Trump’s legislative agenda will be enacted via a gigantic
budget reconciliation bill that cannot be filibustered. So the decision
not to deploy a filibuster on the one crucial occasion it is available
will represent an admission of powerlessness that won’t make rank-and-file Democrats happy. ...
More.