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The Politics of Continuing Resolutions

Mar 11, 2025 · by Daniel Schuman

Hello Govtrackers, this is your better-late-than-never preview of Congressional happenings this week. Next week the House and Senate are scheduled to be out of session, so this week is when all the magic happens.

Specifically, the spending resolution for the federal government will expire on Friday, March 14th, so no funds can be legally spent to carry on the work of government without a new law. One major point of contention is which branch decides spending priorities for the government. Democrats are insisting that Congress retain its control over where to direct funds through its enactment of laws.

Republicans, however, wish to enact legislation to delegate that power to President Trump to decide by executive order and to legalize his actions to disestablish federal agencies, end programs, withhold grants, end contracts, and fire thousands of federal employees.

To that end, Congressional Republicans have introduced a 99-page full year continuing resolution (CR). It is intended to keep the government funded through the end of the fiscal year, and contains a number of provisions, called anomalies, that deviate from current spending plans. It also does not include the usual language to constrain actions by the White House.

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