#Continuing Resolution

[tomorrowusa]

Musk may have torpedoed the original House bipartisan continuing resolution last week because it would have regulated his business dealings in China.

House Democrats Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut say their Republican colleagues in Congress caved to the demands of Elon Musk, sinking a bipartisan government funding bill that would have regulated U.S. investments in China. Congress passed a separate stopgap funding bill over the weekend, averting a government shutdown. In a series of posts on X, McGovern said more could have been accomplished. The scrapped provision “would have made it easier to keep cutting-edge AI and quantum computing tech — as well as jobs — in America,” he wrote. “But Elon had a problem.” Tesla, run by Musk, is the only foreign automaker to operate a factory in China without a local joint venture. Tesla also built a battery plant down the street from its Shanghai car factory this year, and aims to develop and sell self-driving vehicle technology in China. “His bottom line depends on staying in China’s good graces,” McGovern wrote about Musk. “He wants to build an AI data center there too — which could endanger U.S. security. He’s been bending over backwards to ingratiate himself with Chinese leaders.” SpaceX, Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor, has reportedly withheld its Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan at the request of Chinese and Russian leaders. Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. Taiwan’s status is one of the biggest flashpoints in U.S.-China relations.

There's an obvious conflict of interest here. Musk doesn't want to offend China because he's worried that it may hurt his bottom line.

Musk contributed $277 million to the Trump campaign and other Republican causes during the 2024 cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Since the election in November, Musk has become a nearly constant presence at Trump’s side, including in meetings with foreign leaders. Trump appointed Musk to co-lead a group that’s not yet formed, but will be tasked with finding ways to cut regulations, personnel and budgets.

At least part of the reason Musk contributed heavily to Trump and other Republicans may be to get them to go soft on China for the sake of his business interests.

[originalleftist]

These 10 Democratic Senators sold out their party, their colleagues, Federal workers, their country, and their constituents, by voting to advance the Continuing Resolution that gives FOTUS and Musk greater control over our government and budget.

And to be clear: this is not a "both sides are the same" or "Do nothing Dems" or "protest vote" post- even though those are all narratives that these peoples' despicable cowardice and treachery will fuel. The VAST majority of Congressional Democrats did do the right thing and voted against this- all but one in the House, and more than three quarters of those in the Senate.

But Republicans only needed a handful to bypass a filibuster and make this obscene resolution law.

The worst are the New York Democrats, Schumer and Gillibrand. Unlike the others, they aren't in a swing state. They are long-time incumbents. Their seats are not realistically threatened, except by a primary from the Left which this makes more likely. There is no reason at all for them to do this, other than corruption or cowardice.

And Schumer is Senate Minority Leader- arguably the leading figure in the party now, along with Hakeem Jefferies in the House. He not only surrendered to the regime here, but went against the bulk of his own caucus to do it. He is blatantly unfit to be minority leader, and he should be challenged for the position immediately if he will not resign.

All ten of these turncoats should face primary challenges at their next election (if there ever is one again), but especially Schumer, Gillibrand, and Fetterman (who has been cozying up to MAGA repeatedly since the election).

On one positive personal note, I am pleased to see that both of my Senators, Bennett and Hickenlooper of Colorado, voted against this, as I called and urged them yesterday to do.

Well, if the House Democrats don't have the votes, and the Senate Democrats are too divided to do so, then it is up to the people to shut down this fascist regime, via mass boycotts and a general strike.

[someinstant]

New York folks, could you maybe suggest your senators find their fucking spines? I got two senators down here in fucking Georgia with more conviction on this CR.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Jesse Duquette, The Daily Don

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 14, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 15, 2025

Today the Senate passed a stopgap measure from the House of Representatives to fund the government for six months through September 30. The measure is necessary because the Republican-dominated House has been unable to pass the appropriations bills necessary to fund the government in 2025. Congress has kept the government open by agreeing to pass a series of continuing resolutions, or CRs, that fund the government at the levels of the previous budget. The most recent continuing resolution to keep the government funded expires at midnight tonight. The Republicans in the House passed a new measure to replace it on Tuesday and then left town, forcing the Senate either to pass it or to kill it and leave the government unfunded.

The new measure is not a so-called clean CR that simply extends previous funding. Instead, the Republican majority passed it without input from Democrats and with a number of poison pills added. The measure increases defense spending by about $6 billion from the previous year, cuts about $13 billion from nondefense spending, and cuts $20 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service. It forces Washington, D.C., to cut $1 billion from its budget, protects President Donald Trump’s ability to raise or lower tariffs as he wishes, and gives him considerable leeway in deciding where money goes.

House Democrats stood virtually united against the measure—only Jared Golden of Maine voted yes—and initially, Republican defectors on the far right who oppose levels of funding that add to the deficit appeared likely to kill it. But Trump signed on to the bill and urged Republicans to support it. In the end, on the Republican side, only Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) voted against it.

Like the House, the Senate is dominated by Republicans, who hold 53 seats, but the institution of the filibuster, which requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate to end it, gave Democrats room to stop the measure from coming to a vote. Whether they should do so or not became a heated fight over the past three days. To vote on the measure itself, Republicans needed 60 votes to end the potential for a filibuster. To get to 60 votes, Republicans would need some Democrats to agree to move on to a vote that would require a simple majority.

The struggle within the Democratic Party over how to proceed says a lot about the larger political struggle in the United States.

House Democrats took a strong stand against enabling the Trump Republicans, calling for Democratic senators to maintain the filibuster and try to force the Republicans to negotiate for a one-month continuing resolution that would give Congress time to negotiate a bipartisan bill to fund the government.

But Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he would support advancing the spending bill. He argued that permitting the Republicans to shut down the government would not only hurt people. It would also give Trump and his sidekick billionaire Elon Musk full control over government spending, he said, because under a shutdown, the administration gets to determine which functions of the government are essential and which are not.

In an op-ed in the New York Times yesterday, Schumer noted that Musk has said he was looking forward to a government shutdown. Jake Lahut, Leah Feiger, and Vittoria Elliott reported in Wired on Tuesday that Musk wanted a government shutdown because it would make it easier to get rid of hundreds of thousands of government workers. During a shutdown, the executive branch determines which workers are essential and which are not, and as Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo highlights, Trump has issued an executive order calling for the government to stabilize at the skeleton crew that a government shutdown would call essential. Yesterday was the government-imposed deadline for agencies to submit plans to slash their budgets with a second wave of mass layoffs, so at least part of a plan is already in place.

Schumer said that Trump and the Republicans were forcing Democrats into a choice between a bad bill and a shutdown that would hand even more power to Trump. “[T]he Republican bill is a terrible option,” he wrote. “It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address this country’s needs. But…Trump and Elon Musk want a shutdown. We should not give them one. The risk of allowing the president to take even more power via a government shutdown is a much worse path.”

There appeared to be evidence this morning that Trump and Musk wanted a shutdown when before the vote had taken place, Trump publicly congratulated Schumer for voting to fund the government, seemingly goading him into voting against it. “[R]eally good and smart move by Senator Schumer,” he posted.

But as Schumer and a few of his colleagues contemplated allowing the Republicans to pass their funding measure, a number of Democrats called on them to resist the Trump administration and its congressional enablers. House Democrats urged their Senate colleagues to take a stand against the destruction Trump and Musk are wreaking and to maintain a filibuster. At the forefront, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) mobilized her large following to stop Schumer and those like him from deciding to “completely roll over and give up on protecting the Constitution.”

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the former speaker of the House, backed Ocasio-Cortez, issuing a statement calling the choice between a shutdown and the proposed bill a “false choice.” She called instead for fighting the Republican bill and praised the House Democrats who had voted against the measure. “Democratic senators should listen to the women,” she wrote, who have called for a short-term extension and a negotiated bipartisan agreement. “America has experienced a Trump shutdown before—but this damaging legislation only makes matters worse. Democrats must not buy into this false choice. We must fight back for a better way. Listen to the women, For The People.”

In the end, Schumer voted to move the measure forward. Joining him were Democratic senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Gary Peters of Michigan, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Independent Angus King of Maine. One Republican—Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky—voted against moving the measure forward.

Once freed from the filibuster, Senate Republicans passed the bill by a vote of 54 to 46, with New Hampshire’s Shaheen and Maine’s King joining the Republican majority and Republican Rand Paul voting against.

And so, the government will not shut down tonight. But today’s struggle within the Democratic Party shows a split between those who lead an opposition party devoted to keeping the government functioning, and a number of Democrats who are stepping into the position of leading the resistance to MAGA as it tries to destroy the American government. Praise for those resisters shows the popular demand for leaders who will stand up to Trump and Musk.

In a similar moment in 1856, newly elected representative from Massachusetts Anson Burlingame catapulted to popularity by standing up to the elite southern enslavers who had dominated the government for years. Blustering, threatening, and manipulating the mechanics of the government, southern lawmakers had come to expect their northern political opponents, who valued civil discourse and compromise, to cave. Southern leaders threw their weight around to gather more and more power over the country into their hands. Finally, in 1854, they overreached, forcing through Congress the Kansas-Nebraska Act that permitted them to spread human enslavement into the American West. In the following elections, northerners sent to Congress a very different breed of representatives.

On May 22, 1856, pro-slavery representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina came up behind Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner and beat him nearly to death on the floor of the Senate after Sumner had given an antislavery speech Brooks found objectionable. But rather than pleading for calm and compromise in the wake of the attack, Burlingame had had enough. On June 21 he rose and gave a speech about his colleague and his state, calling it “Defence of Massachusetts.”

Burlingame stood up for his state, refuting the insults southerners had thrown at Massachusetts in recent speeches and insulting southerners in return. And Burlingame did something far more important. He called out the behavior of the southern leaders as they worked to attack the principles that supported “the very existence of the Government itself.”

“[T]he sons of Massachusetts are educated at the knees of their mothers, in the doctrines of peace and good will, and God knows, they desire to cultivate those feelings—feelings of social kindness, and public kindness,” Burlingame said. But he warned his southern colleagues that northerners were excellent soldiers and that “if we are pushed too long and too far,” northerners would fight to defend their lives, their principles, and their country.

Burlingame provoked Brooks, and he, temperamentally unable to resist any slight, challenged Burlingame to a duel. Brooks assumed all Yankees were cowards and figured that Burlingame would decline in embarrassment. But Burlingame accepted with enthusiasm, choosing rifles as the dueling weapons. Burlingame was an expert marksman.

Burlingame also chose to duel in Canada, giving Brooks the opportunity to back out on the grounds that he felt unsafe traveling through the North after his beating of Sumner made him a hated man. The negotiations for the duel went on for months, and the duel never took place. Burlingame had turned Brooks, known as “Bully” Brooks, into a figure of ridicule, revealing that when he faced an equal opponent, his bravado was bluster.

Forgotten now, Burlingame’s speech was once widely considered one of the most important speeches in American history. It marked the moment when northerners shocked southerners by standing up to them and vowing that the North would fight for democracy. Northerners rallied to Burlingame’s call and, in so doing, reshaped politics.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[gwydionmisha]

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro's Closing Remarks on the Continuing Resolution

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Arthur Delaney at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a government funding bill that would avert a Friday night shutdown if it clears the Senate by then. The vote was another victory for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who once again overcame opposition from several Republican lawmakers who initially withheld support for the measure. The bill passed by a vote of 217-213, with one Republican against and one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), in support. It’s the first time in years Republicans have approved a government funding bill without needing substantial Democratic support, but the second time in two weeks Republicans united among themselves on a high-stakes House vote thanks to help from President Donald Trump. The bill can’t pass the Senate, however, without support from at least eight Democrats, meaning either Democrats go along with the Republican legislation or risk being blamed for a partial government shutdown. “If congressional Democrats refuse to support this [legislation], they will be responsible for every troop who misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA, for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Johnson got his own party to support the resolution thanks to help from Trump and his threats to back primary opponents against disloyal Republicans. “We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the only Republican who voted against the measure, complaining that it doesn’t make significant cuts to federal spending. Massie has opposed similar funding resolutions in the past and also voted against a budget resolution last week that starts the process for enacting major tax and spending cuts.

[...] Vice President JD Vance helped sweeten the deal by telling Republicans in a private meeting on Tuesday morning that the Trump administration would cut spending by itself with help from billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency. (Democrats opposed the legislation for largely the same reason.) Republicans who backed the bill all along said it felt like a familiar routine to have a few holdouts on some vote or other ultimately cave under pressure from Trump. [...] Democrats decried the legislation’s relatively modest spending reductions as well as Republicans’ refusal to add language disallowing the Trump administration from hacking away at federal agencies.

The US House passed its government spending bill 217-213 on near party lines, with Massie (R-KY) voting NO and Golden (D-ME) voting YES being the only defections from their parties. The bill will be on the Senate’s doorsteps, where 60 votes is needed to end cloture (but 51 is needed to pass on final vote, should cloture pass).

[usatrend24]

Congressional leaders unveil bill to avoid government shutdown as deadline nears

https://urlhub.pro/cd302c

[letterstomyrepresentatives]

Vote NO on Continuing Resolution unless Republicans Stand Down

Dear Democratic Senators,

I am writing as a fellow democrat to urge you to vote NO on the Continuing Resolution (CR) until it includes critical provisions to restore democracy and defend our freedoms.

We are not in peacetime—this is an all-out assault on democracy. This is not an ordinary funding bill. It is the only real leverage Democrats have, and we will hold them accountable if they refuse to use it.

Demands must include:

Removing Elon Musk’s undue influence over government affairs. Though he is an "unpaid advisor," he holds supreme power over government decisions, and that must end.

Stopping and reversing all mass firings and ending DOGE intimidation at independent agencies.

Stopping the communications hold on the CDC and halting the assault on NIH funding.

Stopping the assault on Medicaid and Social Security. No backroom cuts, no erosion of benefits—these programs must be fully protected.

Returning all funding decisions to Congress. Billionaires should not be dictating government policy.

Freeing Mahmoud Khalil and ending the illegal arrests of legal residents for peaceful protest and organizing.

Republicans are waging a war on our freedom. If Democrats cave and allow them to continue, they are complicit. Shut the government down if necessary—DO NOT PASS the CR until Republicans stand down.

I expect you to take a stand and defend democracy, not surrender to those who are actively undermining it.

[tomorrowusa]

The House was on the verge of passing a continuing resolution to keep the government running for another three months. Then Elon Musk started tweeting his objections to it.

The original deal was scrapped and Speaker Johnson substituted a Musk-friendly plan. It went down in flames on Thursday night.

For weeks now, House Republicans have been negotiating a traditional American funding bill. Since the government is broken and regular-order budgeting doesn’t happen anymore, Congress is routinely passing “continuing resolutions” (CRs) funding the government for a few months at a time, always at the last minute. The bill had the usual give-and-take. Members of Congress from areas hard-hit by hurricanes wanted disaster relief. Republicans wanted aid for farmers. Democrats were fine with all that but wanted some things in return, since they would have to provide the votes necessary for passage. And a number of bipartisan agreements on things like health policy and junk fees were added, because this was the last bill out of Dodge in this Congress. This is all very normal. The process has been ongoing for weeks and was almost complete, until Elon Musk stepped in. Out of nowhere on Wednesday, he started posting frantically on Twitter, demanding the CR be stopped and the government shut down until January 20, and threatening to primary anyone who voted for it. For the moment at least, that’s exactly what happened. Both President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance turned against the bill. The latest is that a new bill was offered stripping practically everything out, but because it includes a temporary suspension of the debt limit, it lost 38 Republican votes in the House and failed. There is no path forward, and the government shuts down tonight at midnight without action.

Nobody voted for Elon Musk, but he seems to be running the shit show in Washington.

In short, the world’s richest man is running Republican Party strategy, through posts on his own social media network. Voters thought they elected Donald Trump, but Elon Musk is calling the shots.

It’s hard to say with any certainty what Musk’s motivation is here. One factor might be that his companies are under multiple federal investigations from the NLRB, EPA, FTC, and SEC, among others, and shutting down the government until Trump takes office would put a stop to that, probably permanently. But I think there is another factor. Musk’s frenzy of activity online bears all the hallmarks of what some call “poster’s madness.” Musk’s addiction to posting has gotten measurably worse over time—and dramatically so since he bought Twitter, turned it into the Völkischer Beobachter, and rejiggered the algorithm to blast his posts at every user on the platform, all the time.

You really need to get off of Twitter/X once and for all. Don't give me some lame bullshit like "I don't click the ads!" You empower Musk just by being there. The idiotic ads for vaping and crypto are irrelevant. It's the chief organ of autocratic propaganda in the US and you support it with your participation.

[noah-luck-easterly]

I'm going to go ahead and be political, and ask you all for your help, but not your money.

There's a continuing resolution that passed the House yesterday that's now up for review in the Senate. Normally I'm in favor of passing CRs (I'd rather have a real budget, but I'm not a fan of government shutdowns), but there's always some scheming to sneak things in because they are so critical to pass, so not all CRs are created equal.

This CR is one that should be stopped. Basically because while it allows the federal government to spend its money, it's preventing my city from spending ours, threating our city services and employees. Here's how you can help: Call your Senators. Here's a list and a script.

Here's why. DC is a special case in the US. We're a district, not a state, and we don't have representation in Congress (we've got a delegate in the House who doesn't get to vote on the floor). Unlike other cities, we don't have home rule; our city is subject to direct congressional supervision. And this administration is trying to roll back the little self-determination we've established over the past fifty years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/03/12/house-spending-bill-dc-budget-cuts-explained/

This is not the only effort to curtail DC's independence

It is however, the most urgent.

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

SHUT IT DOWN

If any of us spent like they did, we'd be in jail. It's time to end this insanity.

[princetofbone]

Goals/Resolutions

I have. Opinions. On goals and resolutions and all those fun things. One of the greatest things in life for me is completing a goal. That said, following through with the things you promise yourself is incredibly difficult- especially if you go for big goals (which is a-okay you just gotta prep right)

Note on resolutions: Please PLEASE start doing the thing a month or two before the new year. I know it sounds dumb because it's a NEW YEAR resolution, not a November resolution, but getting into the habit of (for example) going to the gym 3x per week in November, and having slip ups in November, means that when January rolls around, it isn't new and scary, and it's way less likely that you will stop doing the goal in a week.

Note for all goals: don't aim too high- like in the previous example, I said gym 3x per week. I know so many people who decided they wanted to go to the gym every day, and then missed one day, and gave up because their streak wasn't perfect. Depending on the importance to you, I might even pick a goal way lower than what you think you can do- just so you can give yourself grace if you have an off day, or if you get sick.

Onto my method!

I'm a visual person, and I also happen to enjoy decorating paper, so I make goal sheets. I typically have three at any point in time.

My quarterly goals. I'm still in high school, so I make a goal sheet for each quarter of the school year. These are going to be your most broad goals- get >85% in all my classes - or journal 2x per week. Goals that are longer term, or goals that are not incredibly difficult, but would do a lot of good for you. Try and make these goals easy/medium. For example- I hope to journal every day for this quarter because it does me quite a bit of good, however I know that there may be days where I get tired or don't have time, so I left plenty of room for error.

Monthly goals. These can be very similar to quarterly goals, so if it wouldn't help you to have both- don't. I do this, because I like to hyperofocus some months onto specific things. I'm doing NaNoWriMo this November, and so one of my monthly goals will to be writing every day. Separating this out to months is less stressful for me, because I can push through one months, but pushing through three is an awful lot.

The most important for me- Weekly goal sheets. I don't include weekends into these, and they are typically very focused on issues I'm having in that moment. I was finding myself skipping a lot of class, so a weekly goal was to go to every class I had. The weekly goal sheets allow you to focus in on issues you're having, and help push you towards achieving your quarterly/monthly goals.

The thing that allows all these sheets and rules and nonsense to work is a rewards system. As I'm making my sheets, I write in things I can do if I complete my goals. For the weekly goals, I will allow a trip to my fav tea shop, or organizing an event with friends. I try pretty hard not to make the reward buying something because that feels icky to me.

Monthly goals, I generally attatch a reward that could be read as a chore. For example, one of my goals this month is to read before bed three times a week. If I do that, I can clean out my bookshelves and get rud of books. This may not seem like a reward, but once I clean out my shelves, I'm allowed to buy more books, so it opens an opportunity. (without rewarding myself via consumerism)

Quarterly rewards are the most exciting (for me). I have a long list of things I can afford, I want, but feel like I need a special occasion to buy. this could be a tailored vest, a pen, a new notebook. Is it consumerism based reward? Yes. Does it massively decrease my purchasing bc I only by myself "for fun" things when I complete a quarterly task? Yes. It also forces me to use self control because I

1) have to wait a while to get the thing

2) If I don't do the goal, I cannot buy.

I hope something from this helped/sparked ideas, so go, be free, make some goals!

[never-quite-buried]

Fax your traitorous senators, up to five free faxes (25pg limit so no bee script unfortunately) a day with up to three attachments! Get creative girlies!!!

[2mo3cm-man]

[govtshutdown]

#HouseFail