REP. MICHAEL CLOUD: Republicans Need To Play The Long Game In Budget Battle With Democrats

Every year, Congress is supposed to pass a budget that reflects the priorities of the American people. We all know that Sept. 30 is the deadline; yet every year, like clockwork, Congress acts surprised when it arrives.

It’s as if they forgot the date was coming, and we’re left with the same frustrating scenario: forced into a corner with a continuing resolution (CR) and then a bloated, end-of-year, multi-trillion-dollar omnibus package. And every August, when traveling my district, I have the same conversation with folks who are understandably tired of Washington’s failure to get its act together and work for them.

Let me make this clear upfront — we do not want a CR. They are a result of Congress failing to pass its spending bills on time, and this year, like so many before, the D.C. apparatus is setting us up for failure again. So, we are faced with a tough choice: fight for an acceptable CR with reasonable provisions that set up a potential Trump administration on his terms or risk a multi-trillion-dollar omnibus that will lock in Biden-Harris policies for his first year.

Given these two understandably not great choices, we are fighting for the better one — a CR with the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act attached that would allow a Trump administration to set and negotiate his policy-and-spending priorities and secure our elections.

This is not about surrendering to the status quo; it is about using the tools we have to prevent a far worse outcome.

We want to make sure that — should Trump take office in 2025 — his administration is not tied to spending levels and policies already set by Biden and Harris, because the first 100 days of any presidency are crucial for setting an administration’s agenda and driving meaningful change.