A Continuing Resolution Is The Way To Propel Trump’s Agenda

A bona fide opposition movement has grasped the reins in Washington. Since he was sworn in, rather than sitting atop or expanding the vast federal bureaucracy like his Republican predecessors, President Donald Trump has wielded his executive authority to cut, curb, and convert the woke and weaponized administrative state into a constrained and constitutional government. And he’s just getting started.

Enter Congress. President Trump pressing the reset button on the administrative state has already done more to move America in the right direction than anything else we’ve seen in recent memory, but executive orders giveth and executive orders taketh away. The empire will strike back unless Congress takes steps to make Trump’s reforms permanent. That starts with passing a simple continuing resolution (CR) before the March 14 funding deadline.

Asking Congress to pass a CR is unusual, especially as a conservative concerned about the government’s spending problem. Our nation is suffering under a mountain of debt after decades of reckless spending. CRs have been a key ingredient in the establishment recipe, allowing Congress to bypass the annual appropriations process and instead leverage the threat of government shutdowns into Christmas Eve omnibus bills filled with waste and expensive giveaways to special interests.

At first glance, a CR may seem extra disappointing and irresponsible in this case. After all, we are talking about continuing the fiscal year 2024 spending levels established under the Biden-Harris administration. The CR would automatically appropriate funds for agencies like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which Trump already DOGE-d.

But these are unusual times. The normal rules of policy and politics don’t apply.

First, and most importantly, President Trump is in charge. With Russ Vought confirmed as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Elon Musk leading the Department of Government Efficiency, and other trustworthy allies in every agency, Congress can appropriate whatever it wants; this administration is going to use every constitutional authority and legal avenue afforded it to ensure the law is faithfully executed. It’s the political equivalent of asking the bank to raise your credit limit and then handing your card over to Dave Ramsey.

Whether through reprogramming authorities, a rescission package, or impoundment, the White House is ready to ensure its efforts to gut the woke and weaponized deep state are durable and lasting. Impoundment authority is, of course, a long-lost authority of the president to fulfill his constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” by not spending Americans’ money if he doesn’t believe it necessary or proper. While I believe the powers of impoundment are expansive, there will inevitably be court challenges to the usages of impoundment authority in the post-Impoundment Control Act era that may reach the Supreme Court.

Second, the only realistic alternatives to a “clean” CR are a CR-plus or omnibus appropriations package. Either option could only be passed with Democrat support, which means they would be loaded up with expensive nonsense, including bailouts for California without any policy reforms, military aid to Ukraine, and more. At a minimum, the “clean” CR is the least bad conservative option.

Third, Congress must move past the March 14 funding deadline to focus on reconciliation. Once the House passes a budget resolution, which it did on Feb. 25, a reconciliation process can move forward that will include money for border security and immigration law enforcement, extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, new tax policies such as no taxes on tips, deregulatory changes to unleash domestic oil and natural gas production, and much more.

In short, the reconciliation process is the main vehicle for most of year-one Trump agenda priorities to pass into law. The reconciliation process is so vital because it only requires a simple majority vote in the Senate as opposed to requiring 60 as most bills do. Reconciliation is a profound opportunity to enshrine lasting change, but it takes time and must occur within a specific timeframe. Every minute Congress spends on something else, such as a government shutdown due to the failure to pass a CR, makes reconciliation less likely. 

An oft-repeated mantra at the Center for Renewing America is “positions versus interests.” Our position is that CRs are bad; our interest is in squeezing every ounce out of this once-in-a-generation opportunity with President Trump and Republican control of the House and Senate. That means asking conservatives to swallow a bitter pill, but it is the medicine we need to heal the country.

Eric Teetsel is chief executive officer of the Center for Renewing America.