WASHINGTON — In every government funding fight, each side wins some and loses some. Republican and Democratic leaders keep their cards close to their chests and attempt to negotiate the best possible deal before coming to a compromise.
This time, however, Senate Democratic leadership relied on an early gamble that failed — leaving them with no cards to play by the time it was their turn.
Over the last two years, House Republicans have tried and failed to pass government funding bills without Democratic support to avert a shutdown. It became a leverage point for Democrats, and it gave them a major bargaining chip.
So it’s hardly a surprise Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., relied on that strategy again.
The only problem was this time, President Donald Trump is back in the White House — and he managed to do the impossible: Convince nearly every House Republican to vote in favor of the six-month funding resolution and pass it without Democrats. And it worked.
That left Democrats in the Senate without any leverage, which some party members acknowledged early on.
“The only time we had any leverage (was if) the Republican needed our votes in the House. The GOP delivered and that effectively iced us out,” Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said on Thursday. “And that forces us to say, ‘Are you gonna shut the government down? Or are you gonna vote for a flawed CR?’ And now for me, I refuse to shut the government down.”
Senate Democrats debated what to do for days, leaving the party bitterly divided on how to proceed.
Eventually, it all led to Schumer announcing on Thursday night he would vote to end the filibuster — opening the door for other Democrats to do the same and allowing Republicans to vote on their continuing resolution. That reversal came just one day after Schumer warned Republicans they did not have the votes needed to advance the bill, a bluff that did little to sway GOP leaders.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “A shutdown would give Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE … the keys to the city, the state and the country.”
That announcement left Democrats across the spectrum angry with the Senate party leader, particularly those in the House representing vulnerable districts who feel they took a risk voting against the CR just to have the Senate fold to GOP pressure.
House Democratic leadership expressed their opposition to the bill during a press conference on Friday, urging their Democratic colleagues in the Senate to hold the line and vote against cloture.
“We do not support a bill that is designed to hurt the American people that Donald Trump and far-right extremist Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of everyday Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said on Friday.
Jeffries then engaged in a number of tense exchanges with reporters, particularly after the House Democratic leader declined to say if he still supported Schumer or whether he thought it was time for new leadership in the Senate.
“Next question,” Jeffries said a number of times when pressed on the matter.
Others were upset that Schumer is doing little to use what power he has to stop what they view as a dangerously partisan bill.
“I cannot underscore enough how incorrect that is,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told reporters on Thursday. “What voting for this CR does is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing, 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 this CR.”
Several Senate Democrats have also expressed disappointment, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who said “I cannot support a Republican budget to grease the skids for tax giveaways to billionaires.”
At least one Senate member has defended Schumer: Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democratic Party. King told reporters on Friday that Schumer had shown courage in his decision to take the fall for the rest of the party.
Despite holding control of both chambers in Congress, Republicans still have a math problem in the Senate. To overcome a filibuster, 60 senators must vote to file cloture on a piece of legislation — meaning at least seven Democrats would need to cross party lines to advance the measure.
In this case, Republicans need at least eight Democrats after Republican Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., came out in opposition to the current CR proposal.
Fetterman was an early yes, with Schumer joining as the second with his bombshell announcement.
A growing number of Democratic senators have since come out against the bill, but a handful have not yet publicly indicated how they will vote. The Senate is scheduled to vote on ending the filibuster Friday afternoon, with another vote expected in the evening for final passage.
The government is scheduled to enter a shutdown after midnight on Friday, after which federal funding for a slew of agencies is set to lapse. However, consequences of a shutdown wouldn’t be felt until at least Monday, which is likely to be avoided if the CR is passed by the Senate on Friday and delivered to Trump over the weekend.