The Senate appears to lack the necessary Democratic votes to support Republicans’ bill to avert a shutdown less than two days before the deadline—even as Republicans are gearing up to blame Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., if the effort fails.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference after the senate ... [+]
The House approved the resolution in a 217-213 vote Tuesday, with one Republican, Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., voting against the legislation and one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, voting for it.
Seven Senate Democrats would need to side with all 53 Republicans in order to reach the 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster and pass the resolution that would keep the government funded past the midnight deadline Friday when the current funding bill expires.
At least one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has said he’ll vote in favor of the bill, while one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has said he will vote against it.
Other Democrats have said they’re on the fence about siding with Republicans, including Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va. and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., while Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., suggested he could be swayed if the bill is amended to include disaster aid for California’s wildfire crisis, Politico reported, and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., told CNN voting for the House resolution “does seem the lesser of two very serious evils.”
“There are not the votes right now to pass it,” Kaine told reporters after Democrats met privately Wednesday afternoon, according to Politico.
Senate Democrats are reportedly grappling with the decision whether to shut down the government—exposing them to attacks from Republicans and the potential even more government employees furloughed without pay could quit their jobs amid Trump’s mass layoff effort—or approve a bill written by the GOP that some Democrats have said gives the Trump administration broad leeway to dictate government spending, including freezing some funds, without congressional guardrails.
“A shutdown is uncharted territory when you've got an administration that, at least in some ways, probably would welcome a shutdown because that would give the president almost unlimited power in deciding who’s essential, who’s nonessential, holding up agencies,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told reporters Wednesday, calling it “a choice between two terrible alternatives.”
“Well, if there was a shutdown, at that point, it would be Chuck Schumer's shutdown because the Republicans are united in getting this done,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Tuesday.
The House on Tuesday approved the bill that will keep fiscal year 2024 spending levels largely in place through the end of September, with a $13 billion cut to nondefense spending and a $6 billion increase in defense spending. Some Republicans who typically oppose what are known as “continuing resolutions”—or short-term measures to extend the existing spending plan to avert a shutdown and give Congress time to negotiate a new budget—citing a need for more cuts, said they agreed to support the bill given the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Trump urged all Republicans to unite behind the bill, and blasted Massie repeatedly, promising to back a primary challenge against him, when he refused to cave to Trump’s demands.
House Approves Spending Bill Ahead Of Government Shutdown Deadline (Forbes)
Trump Feuds With ‘Grandstander’ GOP Rep. Massie For Defying Anti-Government Shutdown Bill (Forbes)