House Speaker Mike Johnson introduced a yearlong government funding extension that includes increased defense spending and cuts to federal agencies. Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, and House GOP leaders see the stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution, as a means to keep their efforts to advance President Trump’s agenda on track. The proposed extension would fund the government through September 30, the end of the current fiscal year.
Trump applauded the measure and said that “under the circumstances,” congressional Republicans created a “very good funding bill” that everyone in the party should support. “Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s ‘financial house’ in order,” the president said on social media. “Democrats will do anything they can to shut down our Government, and we can’t let that happen.”
With a March 14 deadline to fund the government, Johnson aims to hold a vote on the bill by Tuesday, as the House will adjourn for a short break starting Wednesday to allow House Democrats to attend an issues and policy conference in Virginia. House Republican leadership aides, speaking with reporters ahead of the bill’s release on Saturday, described the 99-page measure—longer than a typical stopgap—as “quite literally as clean a CR as you can draft for these purposes,” noting that it spends less than the fiscal 2024 cycle.
“There’s no Christmas tree effect here,” a leadership aide said. “It’s just what we need to fund the government.” Defense spending has consistently made up the largest portion of congressionally approved funding, and the latest continuing resolution (CR) maintains that pattern, despite calls for broader spending cuts. The CR includes an $8 billion increase in defense funding compared to last year, a move likely to appease defense hawks worried about stagnant funding and its potential impact on military readiness.
The increase ensures that the U.S. remains the world’s top defense spender, far outpacing China and Russia. However, defense spending still ranks third behind Medicare and Social Security in overall federal expenditures. The bill also allocates an additional $6 billion for veterans’ health care, over $9 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and maintains a freeze on $20 billion in IRS funding, the Washington Times reported.
Additionally, the measure cuts nondefense spending by $13 billion, with at least 22 programs across various agencies—including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Energy, and Labor—seeing their funding completely eliminated.