‘Keep it clean’: Republicans press Trump not to blow up shutdown talks

Republicans on Capitol Hill have a message for the White House: don’t turn the next spending patch into a MAGA wish list and risk a shutdown.

With government funding set to run out Sept. 30, GOP leaders are urging President Trump and budget chief Russell Vought to back a plain-vanilla, short-term continuing resolution (CR)—no controversial riders, no last-minute rescissions spree—that buys time to finish full-year bills.

“We need this as clean as possible,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said, arguing a minimalist stopgap gives Congress “time to try and run a normal appropriations process.”

He expects House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) to move a straightforward bill “without potential poison pills,” acknowledging the usual small “anomalies” but pushing to “minimize” them.

That view is catching on.

“We always want a clean CR,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a senior appropriator.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) added that the White House should heed Thune on what can actually clear 60 votes in the Senate.

Inside the House GOP meeting, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told colleagues they’re waiting on the administration’s “anomaly” requests—technical tweaks to prior-year funding that would ride on the stopgap. Johnson didn’t commit to how long the CR should last. Appropriators on both sides lean toward November or December, while hard-liners (and some in the West Wing) want to kick it into next year to avoid striking a bipartisan deal this fall.

Johnson said he’d prefer to conference full-year bills with the Senate—three have passed in each chamber—but is ready to move a CR to avoid a lapse in funding. Cole said he’s had “good discussions” on a three-bill “minibus” (military construction–VA, agriculture, and the legislative branch) that could hitch a ride with the stopgap to keep the rest of the government open.

Capito predicted the stopgap will pass Sept. 29 or 30, after a Rosh Hashanah recess. Thune and Johnson both want to move the package through regular order—committee to floor—rather than a top-down “four corners” leaders’ deal, despite pressure from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to set parameters at the leadership level.

Democrats warn that if the CR hands the administration extra flexibility to zero out accounts or redirect money toward Trump priorities, the deal could unravel.

“The only way we’re going to get there is if we have a real bipartisan deal,” said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

Appropriations leaders Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in the Senate and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) in the House said any agreement must reflect Democratic priorities and keep spending decisions with Congress, not the White House. Murray has also flagged past instances where she says Trump and Vought blocked hundreds of billions Congress already approved.

On substance, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Murray have been in steady contact and both want those three Senate-passed bills included alongside the stopgap for the rest of government.

Republicans know a shutdown could boomerang on them ahead of next year’s midterms. That’s why the push for a basic, noncontroversial CR is intensifying—even as some conservatives eye a longer extension to avoid what they see as an “unsavory” bipartisan bargain later this year.

Schumer’s warning from the floor captured the calendar crunch: “Less than 20 days” until funding runs out, and “a shutdown will happen if nothing is done.”

Bottom line: GOP leaders are trying to steer the White House toward a no-drama stopgap. Whether that sticks once the administration’s anomaly list lands—and whether the bill stays clean enough to survive both chambers—will determine if Washington glides past Sept. 30 or stumbles into another shutdown saga.

Politico and the Hill contributed to this report.