Fri, March 14, 2025 | 12:36PM ET

Shutdown Averted, Reconciliation Next hurdle

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A day before the Friday night government shutdown, Democratic Senate Leader Senator Chuck Schumer announced that he would support the effort to pass the House approved Continuing Resolution (CR), despite his severe reservations over the bill.

Why would Schumer break with House Democrats? Senator Schumer and other Democrats are afraid of the consequences of handing a government shutdown to President Donald Trump and the DOGE team led by Elon Musk. With complaints about the DOGE actions across the government, what could be the results of a Democratic initiative that shuts DOGE targets such as the Department of Education, USAID, and others?

The deadline is midnight, and things could still go astray, as it is Washington. But it is worth noting that with both Thune and Schumer in support, the CR should likely be approved.

Reconciliation

Once the CR hurdle is overcome the Republican leadership in Washington will turn to the Budget Reconciliation process, which is the legislative tool the Republicans will use to pass Trump’s agenda. Budget Reconciliation is one of the only legislative tools that has a filibuster carve out, and the majority can pass without any votes from the minority.

The first step in the Reconciliation process is for Congress to pass a Budget Resolution that creates the broad outline of the Reconciliation Bill. However, the House and Senate have approved different approaches to the Reconciliation process with the House putting all the spending and tax issues into one bill, while the Senate has a two-bill approach. This conflict needs to be resolved before the actual Reconciliation Bill can be written. Bringing the two sides together is likely to require the direct intervention by the president, as it is his program, and he has near unparalleled sway over the GOP.

The Reconciliation process will be required to cut spending via legislation, renew the expiring Trump tax cuts, and provide greater funding to carry out the Trump immigration deportation policy.

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