WASHINGTON ― Senate Democrats helped Republicans advance a six-month funding bill on Friday, taking the threat of a government shutdown off the table but sparking fury across the Democratic Party about giving President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk even more power over spending.
The vote on the legislation, which narrowly passed the House earlier this week, was 62-38. Ten Democratic senators joined Republicans in breaking a filibuster.
Democrats were bitterly divided over how to handle the bill, which lacks language disallowing the Trump administration from freezing spending as it sees fit. Some senators wanted to hold firm and insist on a 30-day funding patch to give more time for a bipartisan agreement. That would have resulted in a shutdown since Republicans resisted such a plan and government funding expires at midnight on Friday.
Other Democrats worried about the negative consequences of a government shutdown beyond thousands of federal employees being furloughed and some services being turned off. During a shutdown, they argued, Trump’s administration would have greater powers to turn off federal agencies.
“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,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Thursday.
Schumer’s surprise announcement on Thursday that he would vote to advance the GOP plan, even though he said it was a bad bill, came just 24 hours after he threatened to block it. The shift prompted many questions from other Democratic lawmakers about Schumer’s strategy on dealing with government funding, including what leverage, if any, Democrats will have in future negotiations with Republicans when funding expires again in September.
“There’s a question as to how we avoid this same situation in September,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters on Friday.
Other Democratic lawmakers said throwing in the towel betrayed many voters who are urging their party to stand up to Trump during an unprecedented time when he and Musk are dismantling government without congressional approval.
“I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there’s a wide sense of betrayal,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a leading progressive, told reporters.
It wasn’t just progressives criticizing Schumer’s strategy either. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), a member of the moderate New Democrat Coalition, asked, “Schumer is refusing to use the filibuster to… accomplish what, exactly?”
And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) took a veiled hit against Schumer, her negotiating partner over many years, by issuing a statement urging Democratic senators to “listen to the women.”
“Appropriations leaders Rosa DeLauro and Patty Murray have eloquently presented the case that we must have a better choice: a four-week funding extension to keep government open and negotiate a bipartisan agreement,” Pelosi said.
Murray, meanwhile, opposed the GOP plan and warned that, if the bill passes, Trump would have new powers to extort states and localities to do his bidding, including those represented by Republicans who stand in his way.
“It takes no imagination to consider how Trump would use the new authority he’d get from the House GOP slush fund bill to threaten and bully states across the country — you do what he says or he blows up your entire state budget,” said the senator from Washington state.
Nine other members of the Democratic caucus voted to advance the bill: Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Angus King (I-Maine), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).
The Senate is expected to pass the measure on Friday evening and send it to the president’s desk for his signature, averting a shutdown.
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Trump gloated earlier in the day, praising Schumer for making a “really good and smart move” by not blocking the legislation.
“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing ― Took “guts” and courage!” Trump wrote on his social media platform TruthSocial.