WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Thursday that he would vote to advance Republican legislation funding the government, likely easing the way for the bill’s passage as early as Friday.
“While the [continuing resolution] is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Allowing Donald Trump to take even more power is a far worse option.”
“Under a shutdown, Trump and Elon Musk would have carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now,” he added.
The New York Democrat did not urge other Democrats to vote for the bill, but it was a clear signal for his colleagues to hold their noses and vote to avert a shutdown.
Democrats debated for three straight days about whether to accept a bill that would allow President Donald Trump to continue dismantling the government as he sees fit or withhold support, resulting in a shutdown that would give the Trump administration power to decide which federal agencies remain open or closed, perhaps for good.
Nearly a dozen Senate Democrats made clear their opposition to the bill on Thursday.
“I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in a statement. “I cannot give permission for inflation-causing tariffs and firing thousands of veterans, things that are already having devastating effects on Arizonans and Americans.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) appeared to be struggling with a decision he called “impossible” all week but ultimately came out against the bill in protest of Trump unilaterally gutting federal agencies and freezing spending without congressional approval.
“I don’t want to be in that position where, you know, 50 years from now, people are going to look back and say, ‘Oh yeah, 2025 is when Congress decided that they didn’t want to maintain the power of the purse,’” the senator told HuffPost.
But other Democrats expressed concerns about federal workers being furloughed during a shutdown that could last weeks. The White House Office of Management and Budget could then decide which employees would remain on the job and potentially dismiss those whom it deems are not essential.
Asked Thursday what she was weighing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who is undecided said, “What gives Donald Trump the least ability to control spending?”
At least eight Democrats will need to vote for the bill to break a filibuster.
Those who opposed the GOP plan noted that Trump’s administration has been busy closing the government even before Friday’s funding deadline, including parts of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs. On Wednesday, they dismissed and locked out thousands of employees of the Education Department.
During a Thursday interview on CNN, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said it would be a “tremendous mistake” for Schumer and other Democrats to advance the bill.
In yet another move that is sure to stick in Democrats’ craw, the White House is reportedly planning to “impound,” or withhold, approved funds from the GOP bill if is passed into law, including potentially money Congress appropriated on a bipartisan basis under former President Joe Biden, per Fox News. That scheme is largely in line with what administration officials told conservative House Republicans to win over their support for the bill earlier this week.
The six-month GOP funding package also includes over $1 billion in cuts for the District of Columbia. City leaders have warned those cuts would fall heavily on services like schools and police. D.C. parents also rallied with their children outside the U.S. Capitol building on Thursday urging Democrats to stand firm and oppose the legislation.
“We’re trying to encourage Democratic leaders to vote no on cloture and vote no on the bill,” Margaret Waters, who stood next to her young daughter at the rally, told HuffPost.
Absent action from Congress, government funding will lapse on midnight on Friday, but the effects wouldn’t be most acute until Monday when federal workers return to work. House Republicans have already left town for a weeklong recess, increasing pressure on Senate Democrats. The Senate is also scheduled to leave town for a previously scheduled recess next week, but that could change if there is a shutdown.
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According to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday, in the case of a shutdown, voters would point the finger at Republicans who control the White House and both legislative chambers of Congress.
But Republican lawmakers insisted that Democrats would ultimately be the ones who bear the blame.
“Sen. Schumer and his party are on the verge of shutting down the government of the United States,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said Thursday. “The deadline is looming. The Democrats now face a crucial choice: pass the bill that has already passed the House of Representatives and fund the government, or shut it down. There is no magical third option for the Democrats or for the country.”