Washington — The Senate is expected to begin voting Friday afternoon on a Republican-led stopgap measure to keep the government funded ahead of a midnight deadline, following days of consternation from Senate Democrats over an uncomfortable choice — to allow the GOP bill to pass or let the government shut down.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer initially signaled that his caucus would fight back against the partisan measure to keep the government funded through September. But instead he reluctantly pledged on Thursday to advance it, delivering one of the Democratic votes necessary to propel it to passage. He warned of the larger threat a shutdown would pose for the American people.
“For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option,” the New York Democrat said, calling the bill “deeply partisan” and urging that “it doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs.” “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
After his remarks Thursday night, Schumer wouldn’t say whether other Democrats would join him in voting to advance the measure, telling reporters that “each is making his or her own decision.” But Schumer’s support for the continuing resolution gives other Democrats political cover to do the same, diminishing the threat of a shutdown.
On Tuesday, the House passed the measure, which increases defense spending while decreasing non-defense spending below 2024 levels. Republicans have praised additional funding in the measure for programs like nutrition assistance for women, infants and children, while Democrats have railed against cuts to medical research and housing programs — and more than $1 billion in cuts to D.C.’s local government spending.
Just one Democrat joined the Republican majority in support of the measure. And while the House requires only a simple majority, a 60-vote threshold is required to invoke cloture and advance the measure in the Senate, meaning it will need the support of Democrats to get to a vote on final passage.
Still, the party has been split on how to proceed. Democrats widely oppose the House-passed measure and have expressed frustration with the spending reductions, and they warn that it would give the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency even more latitude to carry out cost-slashing efforts.
Democrats had been pushing for a 30-day continuing resolution that had little chance of earning enough support for passage. And with the House having already left town, the option would almost certainly have resulted in a funding lapse. But some progressives have suggested that the shorter option was more favorable, letting the onus for a government shutdown fall on Republicans, arguing that it would have further illuminated the chaos that has ensued in the federal bureaucracy and beyond under the Trump administration and DOGE.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told reporters Thursday night that Schumer’s move to back the continuing resolution — known as a CR — was a “huge slap in the face,” adding that there is a “wide sense of betrayal” among the party.
“What voting for the CR does is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The robbing of our federal government in order to finance tax cuts for billionaires, is what is happening, and that is what Senate Democrats will be empowering if they vote for the CR.”
Schumer told reporters following his floor remarks that Democrats should keep the attention on their message — that Republicans are hurting the middle class — rather than on what the Trump administration could pursue during a shutdown. Schumer said the message is “beginning to work.”
President Trump congratulated Schumer Friday morning for “doing the right thing,” saying in a post on Truth Social that it took “courage.”
The minority leader first informed Senate Democrats that he planned to vote to advance the GOP funding measure during a closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon, a source familiar told CBS News. As the meeting let out, frustrations appeared high among Senate Democrats, and a number of them — including many who hail from battleground states — quickly released statements on social media announcing they would vote “no” on the House-passed continuing resolution.
Besides Schumer, only Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, had pledged to support the continuing resolution heading into the day on Friday. Which Democrats will deliver the remaining six votes needed to propel the funding measure to passage remains to be seen.
“I’m hopeful that enough Democrats will reject their party’s threat of shutting down the government to get this bill passed today,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday morning.
