Of all the government shutdown scares Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has faced — and there’ve been seven — few were as uncomplicated as this one. In fact, Republicans were so confident that the continuing resolution (CR) would pass on Tuesday that they canceled Wednesday’s votes and rewarded the chamber with a week and a half recess. To most observers, it felt like an alternate universe when hardline conservatives fell in line, shocking reporters with quotes about the plan's "fiscal responsibility."

Of course, no CR vote is without drama — and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) provided plenty of it after a very public tongue-lashing from President Donald Trump. The obstinate congressman has been a frequent pest of leadership, consistently voting no on key bills and erasing the slimmest of GOP majorities in the process. While Johnson has dealt with Massie’s antics for the last year and a half, the president didn’t take kindly to dancing on the knife’s edge of the budget extension — and let the world know it.

Shortly after the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) agreed to back to the CR, eliminating the speaker’s biggest headache, Massie was back on X poking the eye of leadership. “Unless I get a lobotomy Monday that causes me to forget what I’ve witnessed the past 12 years, I’ll be a NO on the CR this week,” Massie wrote on X on Sunday.

After thanking HFC for its support, Trump turned his fury on Massie, blasting him for being “an automatic ‘NO’ vote on just about everything, despite the fact that he has always voted for Continuing Resolutions in the past. HE SHOULD BE PRIMARIED,” the president insisted, “and I will lead the charge against him. He’s just another GRANDSTANDER, who’s too much trouble, and not worth the fight. He reminds me of Liz Chaney (sic) before her historic, record breaking fall (loss!). The people of Kentucky won’t stand for it, just watch. DO I HAVE ANY TAKERS???”

The Kentucky congressman seemed unfazed, replying (quite unapologetically), “POTUS is spending his day attacking me and Canada. The difference is Canada will eventually cave.”

Leading up to the vote, House leaders like Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) were surprisingly confident. “It’s gonna pass,” he predicted. “Donald Trump wants it. It’s going to pass. I don’t even have a concern about Thomas,” Emmer said when people pressed him about Massie. “We’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna be fine. People can vote the way they want. It’s gonna pass.”

Part of that assurance sprang from the positive statements from outspoken members like Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who told Ben Shapiro bluntly, “I’m not a huge fan of the ‘kick the can down the road’ continuing resolution as the best form of how we fund our government, but what I do believe is that you’ve got to figure out how to empower President Trump and Elon to continue to keep the lights on to carry out DOGE,” he pointed out. This CR, Roy continued, “has no earmarks. It doesn’t allow the defense hawks, who really wanted a whole bunch more money, to screw up the whole process by throwing a bunch of money into it. [Because] then, the non-defense Democrats want more money. So this is a win to keep the lights on for six months for Elon,” he argued. “The Democrats have threatened to shut down, so they can stop Elon. So this puts them in a box. It’s the most fiscally responsible thing we can do at this moment.”

In the end, Trump’s personal lobbying and the Democrats’ determination to shut down the government made converts out of the most unlikely conservatives. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) told reporters, “I’ll be the first guy to tell you I don’t like CRs. I’ve never voted for one. But the Democrats aren’t going to help us. And the Democrats are just going to put any shutdown on the president, which obviously isn’t good for the party,” he argued. “So I think it’s important that we give the party, the president and the conference time to come up with a good budget.”

By a 217-213 vote (one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, sided with Republicans, while Massie stuck to his guns and voted no), the GOP handed Johnson another razor-thin win. The speaker also got some unlikely help from Democrats, whose maternity and medical absences — along with the unfortunate passing of Texas freshman Rep. Sylvester Turner — provided some unexpected breathing room in what was otherwise a rare display of conservative unity. And it’s a good thing too, since even leadership admitted there was no Plan B.

Now, all eyes turn to the Senate, where Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is suddenly punting on how his party will respond. As recently as Sunday, Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he was a “hell no,” only to backtrack less than 24 hours later. “If it’s the only option on the table come later this week?” he said. “Ask me after they vote.”

The reality is, by adjourning the House, Schumer’s party is boxed in. If eight Democrats don’t cross over and support the House bill (which is currently the only option for keeping the lights on), the blame for shutting down the government will fall squarely on Schumer’s crew. Either way, it’s a pretty savvy strategy for Johnson and company, who managed to once again beat the odds and set up the president for sweeping budget cuts. 

The situation should thrill Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who’s been pushing the White House to use the rescission powers in the 1974 Impoundment Control Act to roll back billions in government waste once the CR passes. “Trump and White House officials have been telling GOP holdouts who want more spending cuts that the administration will pursue impoundment — that is, holding back federal funding already appropriated by Congress — according to two Republicans who were in a recent meeting with the president,” Politico reported earlier in the day.

As Family Research Council’s Senior Director for Government Affairs Quena Gonzalez noted, “Normally, a continuing resolution is bad news for those who care about life and family, typically passing massive budgets in the dead of night and/or during the ‘lame duck’ period after an election before the new Congress is sworn in, when accountability to voters is at its lowest ebb. This CR is different,” he emphasized to The Washington Stand. “It represents a good-faith attempt, in light of Republicans’ microscopic margin in the House, to keep the conservative agenda — cutting waste, rolling back Democrats’ woke agenda, and bringing accountability back to government — moving.”

“The House is to be commended for passing the CR with the help of conservatives,” Gonzalez insisted. “The Senate should pass it quickly.”