Aguilar: Democrats still working to unite party against GOP spending bill

The head of the House Democratic Caucus said Tuesday that party leaders are still working to unite their troops against the Republicans’ spending bill.

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) bashed the GOP proposal, warning that it will slash public services and vowing that “House Democrats are voting no.”

But a number of vulnerable “front-line” Democrats in battleground districts have not yet said how they’ll vote when the bill hits the floor Tuesday afternoon. And Aguilar stopped short of saying the Democrats will be in full attendance — or that their opposition will be unanimous.

“We’ll see. We’re working to make sure that every Democrat votes no and is here and present on the floor,” Aguilar told reporters in the Capitol. 

The Democratic votes could be a crucial factor in the Republicans’ scramble to pass their spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which seeks to fund the federal government through September. That’s because Republicans have just a tiny majority in the lower chamber, leaving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) with little space for defections, especially if Democrats band together in opposition.

The Speaker has been working behind the scenes to coalesce his divided conference behind the bill. But at least one conservative member, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), is a hard no, and several other conservatives said they remain on the fence just hours before the vote. 

“I’m still undecided,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Tuesday morning.

Without congressional action, large parts of the federal government would shut down at the end of Friday.

Republicans are casting the proposal as a “clean” CR that simply extends 2024 funding, which passed last year with bipartisan support. But Democrats are quick to note that it also cuts $13 billion in nondefense spending, warning that those cuts will undermine federal housing, nutrition and health care programs, among others. 

“If it was a clean CR it’d be a couple pages,” Aguilar said. “This is 99 pages where they want to cut vital programs affecting our communities. You don’t need 99 pages for a clean CR.” 

Democrats are also airing concerns that the GOP bill is designed to enable President Trump and Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the Department of Government Efficiency, to continue their firing blitz across federal agencies. 

As part of earlier negotiations on a 2025 spending package, Democrats had demanded specific language specifying that the administration had to spend the allocated funding as Congress intended. That language was scrapped when Republicans cut Democrats out of the talks and drafted their partisan spending package. 

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) noted that members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, who typically oppose CRs, are on lining up to support the GOP bill. 

“Why?” he asked. “Because they know that it is not a continuing resolution. It is a partisan Republican bill that freezes spending well below the agreed upon limits in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. And gives Elon Musk total authority to slash and burn our government.”

“It is the Republicans who will be responsible for any consequences,” he added. “Because if they want Democratic votes, then they need to take Democratic input. And they did not.”