Top Democratic negotiators on Friday accused Republicans of “walking away” from bipartisan government funding talks two weeks before the shutdown deadline.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), top Democrats on the Senate and House Appropriations Committees said in a joint statement Friday that GOP leadership is abandoning bipartisan negotiations and “raising the risk of a shutdown in so doing.”
They also took aim at a recent push by conservatives to codify some recent efforts by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as part of a sweeping operation to reshape the federal government.
“Republican leadership’s plan to pass a full-year continuing resolution with Musk’s devastating ‘DOGE cuts’ would give Trump new flexibility to spend funding as he sees fit,” they said.
“While Elon Musk has been calling for a shutdown, Democrats have been working to pass bills that make sure Congress decides whether our schools or hospitals get funding—not Trump or Musk.”
Congress has until March 14 to pass legislation to keep the government running or risk a shutdown.
While top negotiators have said that both sides are “close” or “virtually there” when it comes to agreeing to a top-line number for government funding for fiscal 2025, both sides have been digging in their heels in talks over the president’s spending powers.
As Democrats have pressed for assurances that a bipartisan funding deal that emerges from talks won’t be undermined by Trump and cuts pursued by DOGE, Republicans have increasingly been blaming a potential shutdown on Democrats, while also pushing for a six-month stopgap to run through September, the end of fiscal 2025.
Earlier this week, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused his colleagues across the aisle of making “completely unreasonable conditions” in funding talks.
“They want us to limit the power of the executive branch,” he argued. “They want us to stipulate in the appropriations vote for the first time in history that certain agencies in the executive branch would have to have a specific number of employees.”
Roughly 20,000 probationary federal employees have been axed as the Trump administration ramps up firings. That covers new hires and employees who were newly promoted.
Among the list of agencies where employees have been targeted are the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, Interior and Education. The Social Security Administration also notified employees of “significant workforce reductions” amid reports that thousands of workers could be let go.
The Trump administration has also moved to freeze some federal funding, but that effort, and others, have seen roadblocks in the courts as questions over the legality of the measures remain.
Still, calls are also growing among hard-line conservatives for DOGE cuts to be implemented as part of a funding deal, as some Republicans have cheered the push while pressing for further spending reductions to tackle the nation’s deficit.
But other Republicans aren’t holding their breath on that effort.
“I don’t see how that could work,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Thursday. “We should consider [it] in the [fiscal] ‘26 appropriations process, where we can hear testimony from all of the secretaries and other agency heads.”
