Growing calls among hardline House conservatives to incorporate cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into a developing government funding bill are complicating efforts to avert a shutdown two weeks ahead of the looming deadline.
The pleas are poised to pin Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) into the tricky — yet familiar — position of managing his right flank while keeping the lights on in Washington, which will require some support from congressional Democrats.
“I would have a real hard time voting for a clean [continuing resolution] after everything that we’ve seen out of DOGE,” said Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus.
Asked if he wanted to see Congress implement the DOGE cuts in the government funding bill, Crane responded: “One hundred thousand percent.”
Reflecting DOGE cuts in appropriations, however, would spark outcry from Democrats and almost certainly lead to a government shutdown — an outcome that Johnson wants to avoid in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, when the Republican trifecta is trying to tick items off their to-do list.
“I don’t know what they’re even talking about,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said when asked about including the DOGE cuts in the funding bill. “I mean, every day it’s something.”