Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-CA) issued the following statement after Senate passage of H.R. 1968, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025:
“I voted against the continuing resolution because it’s a blatant power grab by the White House, giving unchecked control to Donald Trump and his billionaire allies, like Elon Musk, to dismantle the federal government. The CR makes cuts across the board, devastating critical programs that American families rely on.
“Trump and Republicans are using the threat of a shutdown to strip away benefits from seniors, veterans, and working families – all to fund tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy. They have made it harder for Americans to access Social Security. They are dismantling Medicaid and Medicare, and they have already fired over 130,000 federal employees, with plans to cut 80,000 more at the VA alone. They have laid off workers maintaining our nuclear arsenal and shut down critical medical research labs. Instead of holding Trump accountable, Republicans are ceding their power and oversight, allowing his unchecked executive overreach to continue. Worse, they are empowering him further by giving him a blank check to continue this dangerous agenda, at the expense of our democracy and the American people.
“House Democrats put forward a responsible alternative – a short-term spending bill that would have allowed time for real negotiations while safeguarding critical programs. But instead of working toward a bipartisan solution, Republicans rammed through this extreme measure, ignoring the needs of the people they were elected to serve. By passing this CR, Republicans weakened Congress’ power of the purse and handed greater control over taxpayer dollars to Trump and his wealthy backers – with no oversight or guardrails.
“No one wants a government shutdown, but we are headed into disastrous times. Republicans are determined to cede their power and oversight to Donald Trump, abandoning their duty to the American people and allowing these dangerous actions to go unchecked. I will continue fighting alongside House Democrats to push back against this egregious overreach of power.”
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Issues: 119th Congress