Washington –Senate Democrats consider a plan to pave the path for a Republican bill that would keep the government funded during the next six months, in exchange for their vote on a 30-day alternative. They are forced to choose between the Republican measure or the shutdown of the government.
The Senate will begin taking up the House’s bill on funding the government until September on Friday. Republicans will need 60 votes in order to invoke cloture, which means they need Democratic support to advance the measure to the final vote.
Democrats are in a difficult position. They can block the GOP’s bill but they also have to be wary of a government shutdown if that happens. Democratic leaders instead are pushing for a 30 day funding extension to allow for more time for negotiation on new spending legislation. This is a non-starter given Republican control over the House and Senate.
After Senate Democrats met in Capitol Hill on Capitol Hill, a possible solution started to emerge. In the plan, Democrats would provide the necessary votes to advance the GOP’s bill in exchange of a vote on their own amendment that would include a one-month temporary measure. This would almost certainly fail. Democrats who are against the GOP’s version can vote against it. Some members view it as a means to avoid a shutdown and save face.
“I believe we will all vote ‘no,’ to cloture until we reach an agreement on at least this 30-day [continuing resolution] clean amendment and perhaps a few others,” Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters in the morning of Thursday. “We’ll all vote ‘no,’ to cloture until we reach an agreement on this.” I don’t know if the Republicans have yet agreed, but I believe that this is a united position.
The House passed the six-month budget measure Tuesday, largely along party line. This means that the Senate will now be fighting the funding battle.
John Thune, Senate Majority leader, told reporters on Thursday that he and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had been in contact but Democrats hadn’t made an official offer. Thune said that Republicans would be “open” to a deal where Democrats offered a vote for the 30-day continuing measure in exchange for Republicans helping them reach the 60-vote mark on the bill passed by the House.
He said, “We are waiting for them decide what they will do.” Thune filed the cloture for Thursday’s House passed measure, setting up Friday’s vote.
Democrats emerged from the meeting on Wednesday with their alternative plan to fund the government through April 11, 2019. Schumer warned Republicans they did not have the votes needed to pass the stopgap measure passed by the House, which increased defense spending, funding for veterans’ healthcare, and decreased non-defense expenditure below 2024 levels.
“Funding government should be bipartisan.” Schumer stated that Republicans took a partisan approach, and drafted their continuing resolutions without any input from Congress Democrats.
Democrats oppose this measure, despite the fact that efforts to fund government are usually bipartisan. They have also expressed their frustration at the reductions in spending, and warned it would give Elon Musk and the Trump Administration more freedom to cut costs. As the minority in both chambers, Democrats only have a limited amount of leverage to force a shutdown.
Democrats are also concerned about the potential fallout from a shutdown. This could be used by the Trump administration as a pretext to cut even more federal employees. Senate Democrats have argued that voting for cloture, but against the final passage, is a good way to get the job done. However, progressives who are outspoken have criticized the plan. They claim the Democrats are caving in to the Republicans and the President, while receiving nothing substantive.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez , a New York Democrat who represents the state of New York in Congress, posted this on X Thursday. “I hope Senate Democrats realize there is nothing clever or clever about setting up an ill-fated 30-day CR to vote on cloture for the GOP spending measure,” she wrote. “Those games will not fool anyone. The games won’t fool voters or House members. “People will never forget it.”
The idea of exchanging a vote for the short-term continuing measure for a vote for cloture was also criticized by Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s sole Democrat.
Fetterman stated in a posted that “The House GOP’s CR will pass the Senate as it only requires 51 votes”, Fetterman. “Total theatre is neither honest nor persuasive to constituents.”
