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What did President Joe Biden say about passing a clean CR in 2025?
Executive Summary
President Joe Biden’s explicit statement calling for passage of a “clean Continuing Resolution (CR) in 2025” does not appear in the three source documents provided; none record a direct quote or attributable remark to the President urging a clean CR. The Congressional Record entry from October 2, 2025 records multiple Senators debating the need for a clean CR and assigns responsibility differently across parties, while the Economic Report of the President (January 9, 2025) and a September 17, 2025 Democrats-focused memo do not contain a presidential statement demanding a clean CR [1] [2] [3]. The public debate in these documents centers on partisan framing of who is blocking a clean CR and the stakes for healthcare and government operations, but a direct Biden quote on passing a clean CR in 2025 is absent from this set of sources.
1. The Case That Senators Made the Call, Not the President
The most detailed treatment of the clean CR question in the supplied records comes from the Congressional Record on October 2, 2025, where Senators including Mr. Thune, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Ricketts explicitly argue that the government risks shutdown without a clean CR and accuse Democrats of leveraging funding demands that Republicans label as “radical-left” priorities. These Senators framed the impasse as Democrats holding the government “hostage” over issues such as COVID-era subsidies and expanded healthcare for undocumented immigrants, presenting a direct partisan accusation about motive and leverage in negotiations. Senator Klobuchar’s remarks in the same record push back, urging bipartisan compromise to avoid the economic and human costs of letting healthcare tax credits lapse, but the document records senatorial debate rather than a presidential directive [1].
2. The Economic Report Is Silent on a Presidential Demand
The January 9, 2025 Economic Report of the President focuses on administration economic achievements—citing the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act—and strategic economic priorities, but it contains no mention of a presidential call for a clean CR or any explicit White House instruction tied to 2025 continuing resolutions. The report’s scope is macroeconomic policy and performance, not day-to-day appropriations bargaining, and therefore it does not provide a record of presidential remarks about specific funding maneuvers. The absence of a statement in this official economic document means it cannot be used to verify that President Biden publicly demanded a clean CR in 2025 [2].
3. House Democrats’ Messaging Focuses Elsewhere, Not a Biden Quotation
A September 17, 2025 Democrats-focused memo included among the sources discusses how Democrats view the shutdown and how it's used as political leverage, but it similarly does not attribute to President Biden any direct call for a clean CR in 2025. That memo characterizes the shutdown as a partisan weapon and encourages Democratic cohesion and messaging, yet it does not contain or cite a presidential quotation insisting on a clean CR. The document therefore contributes to understanding Democratic strategy and criticism of Republican tactics—adding context on the intra-party and interparty narratives—without supplying evidence of a Biden statement about passing a clean CR [3].
4. What the Evidence Does Show About the Narrative Battle
Taken together, the three documents illustrate a clear narrative battle: Senate Republicans publicly demanded a clean CR and blamed Democrats for obstruction, while Democratic leaders warned of the consequences of inaction on healthcare subsidies and urged bipartisan compromise. The sources show that the clean CR concept dominated congressional debate as a practical mechanism to avert a shutdown, but the attribution of the demand differs—Senators and House Democrats made public appeals and accusations, yet none of the supplied texts contains President Biden’s own call for a clean CR. This means claims that Biden personally said to pass a clean CR in 2025 lack backing in these specific records [1] [3].
5. Bottom Line: No Direct Presidential Quote Found in These Records
The direct factual conclusion from these documents is straightforward: within this set of sources, there is no documentary evidence of President Joe Biden saying to “pass a clean CR in 2025.” The Congressional Record captures robust senatorial debate over the CR and places responsibility on opposing parties, the Economic Report discusses broader economic policy without addressing CR rhetoric, and the Democratic memo frames partisan strategy without providing a Biden quotation. Any claim that President Biden explicitly called for passage of a clean CR in 2025 would require additional primary-source evidence—such as a presidential press release, transcript, or contemporaneous White House statement—not contained in the three provided items [1] [2] [3].