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Senate Democrats signal plans to advance GOP bill to avoid a government shutdown
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, says he will vote to keep the government open, signaling a path for Democrats to vote with Republicans to overcome a filibuster in the Senate and pass a six-month spending bill ahead of the Friday deadline.
Schumer delivered a lengthy speech explaining his decision, arguing that a shutdown would give Trump more power and "is a far worse option."
"As bad as passing the CR is, allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option," Schumer said.
Schumer also said he believed Republicans would weaponize a shutdown to reopen "only their favorite departments and agencies." He went on to say a shutdown is not a political game.
Democrats huddled behind closed doors Thursday afternoon to debate their plans ahead of a critical vote on whether to move forward on House-passed spending bill to fund the government through the end of September.
The party's base is demanding they fight President Trump and Elon Musk's rapid fire cuts to the federal workforce and block the funding bill that was crafted without Democratic input.
In the hours leading up to Schumer's announcement, Democrats struggled to agree on a path with members publicly announcing their opposition throughout the day. Two Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2026, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. said they would vote no on the GOP-backed measure.
Many Democrats described the choice facing them it as a "pick-your-poison" moment with no easy answer. Helping Republicans pass the CR avoids a shutdown and issues they argue impact defense and other programs that are relying on increases instead of flat funding. But blocking it opens them up to the uncertainty of what the Trump administration would decide about who qualifies as essential workers and what other cuts they could impose during a shutdown.
House Democrats remained largely united on opposing the plan, and many took to social media to urge their Senate Democratic counterparts to do the same.
Republican pressure continues
In a speech earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., blamed Schumer for the creating the bind Democrats face and called on Democrats to make a decision on how they will proceed.
"It's time for Democrats to fish or cut bait," Thune said in a speech on the Senate floor. "We have two days until government funding expires. And Democrats need to decide if they're going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they're going to shut down the government."
Thune said the House-passed spending bill is the best option available at this moment.
But Democrats say it is not that simple. Some worry about the unpredictable impact and length of a shutdown, and what the plan would be to get out of one. Also weighing on Democrats hoping to regain control of at least one chamber of Congress is 2026 is the political impact. Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, but Trump has a large microphone and Senate Democrats will end up determining what happens.
Senate Republicans hold a 53-seat majority, but likely need eight Democratic votes in the GOP-led chamber to overcome a filibuster in the GOP-led chamber to pass the measure, known as a continuing resolution.
Senate Republicans will see at least one defection because Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul said last week he would vote no on the plan, unless it could codify cuts led by Elon Musk, the billionaire and advisor to President Trump.
So far only one Senate Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has said publicly he would vote with the GOP to approve the CR. Fetterman said he wants to avoid a shutdown: "that's chaos and I will never vote for chaos."
Lexie Schapitl contributed to this report.
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