WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump appeared to advocate for a so-called “clean” government funding patch through the end of the fiscal year this September in a post on his social media site Truth Social on Thursday evening, as Congress stares down a deadline to avoid a government shutdown in just two weeks. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump appeared to advocate for a so-called “clean” government funding patch through the end of the fiscal year this September in a post on his social media site Truth Social Thursday evening as Congress stares down a deadline to avoid a government shutdown in just two weeks
  • “We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill (“CR”) to the end of September,” Trump wrote in a post. “Let’s get it done!"
  • Such a move, known as a continuing resolution or CR, would theoretically keep the government funded at current levels through September as negotiations over 12 individual full-year spending bills appear to have not made enough progress and the Republican-controlled House and Senate work to get Trump’s agenda passed through Congress
  • A new so-called “clean” funding patch would theoretically keep the same funding levels the same as the last CR passed last year under a Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House before getting Biden’s signature, which comes as the Trump administration’s full-scale campaign branded the U.S. DOGE Service to downsize the federal government and cut spending

“We are working very hard with the House and Senate to pass a clean, temporary government funding Bill ('CR') to the end of September,” Trump wrote in a post. “Let’s get it done!”

Such a move, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, would theoretically keep the government funded at current levels through September as negotiations over 12 individual full-year spending bills appear to have not made enough progress and the Republican-controlled House and Senate work to get Trump’s agenda passed through Congress. 

Trump’s apparent backing of the method to avoid a shutdown comes a day after Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters she was told to start working on a CR to keep the government funded through September, Politico reported. 

Congress has not been able to pass a full-year budget and has relied on such short-term funding patches to keep the government open since the start of the fiscal year when former Democratic President Joe Biden occupied the White House. 

The last CR, which is currently funding the government and set March 14 as the new shutdown deadline, cleared Congress in December. A new funding stopgap would theoretically keep the same funding levels as the last CR passed in 2024 under a Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-controlled House before getting Biden’s signature. It also would come amid the Trump administration’s full-scale campaign branded the U.S. DOGE Service to downsize the federal government and cut spending. 

Getting a short-term patch through both chambers of Congress will likely require support from Democrats, particularly in the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority and a handful of members who are critical of continuing resolutions. Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., claimed Democrats were trying to insert a measure that limits Trump’s power in the process of passing a full-year budget in order to get their support, something he called a “nonstarter” for Republicans. 

The imminent deadline to avoid a government shutdown has been under the shadow of the Republican-controlled Senate and House’s efforts to pass a framework that begins the legislative process of passing Trump’s agenda through Congress. 

The House and president got a major victory this week when a blueprint for Trump's preferred strategy — one single bill — for passing his biggest priorities on the border, energy and taxes cleared the lower chamber. The House and Senate will now dive into crafting the legislation over the coming months and a short-term funding fix could clear the way for that.