Senate Democrats are leery of blocking a House Republican-drafted six-month government funding bill, fearing that a government shutdown may backfire on them politically by giving Elon Musk and the Trump administration more leverage to force federal workers into retirement.
Democratic senators panned the House GOP proposal unveiled over the weekend, arguing it would erode Congress’s power of the purse and give President Trump and Musk a blank check to redirect government funding and eliminate long-standing programs.
But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stopped short of declaring the House bill dead on arrival in the Senate, reflecting Democratic qualms about killing the measure if it manages to pass the lower chamber later this week.
In past standoffs, Democrats have felt confident that government shutdown politics played to their advantage, as the media often put scrutiny on Republicans during spending lapse — or Democrats were able to blame conservative agitators for shutdowns.
Now there’s growing fear among Democrats that Trump could feel politically emboldened to let a shutdown drag on for many weeks, and that, in turn, could give Musk more leverage to push federal workers to retire, as many might feel financial pressure to look for work in the private sector if they have to endure weeks without a paycheck.
Democratic senators are hoping the continuing resolution unveiled this weekend, which would fund the government through September, fails in the House.
Warren said House Democrats are expected to vote in unison against the proposal, but it could be a tough vote for the 13 Democrats representing districts that Trump won in the 2024 election.
At least one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (Texas), hasn’t closed the door on voting for the GOP-drafted stopgap.
Posted by John3262005
7 Comments
What is stopping Elon Musk from firing those people anyways?
When people say “do something” and your response is “we can’t do anything” , and then the basically one foreseeable opportunity for the next ~6 months comes up where you CAN do something and exact concessions , and you don’t because you’re too scared …🤷
I mean. Hopefully they’ve seen the polls. 26 primary season won’t be pretty.
If the government shuts down.
Conservatives will blame Dems.
And all the online noise will be how Dems stood up to Trump and shut the government down.
I think if midterms were say, in a month or two, then Dems should probably find a way to fund the government.
But midterms are FAR FAR AWAY from a news cycle perspective.
Shut the government down
Lol, Texas continues to be the worst state in the Union
I swear we should primary every single senate Dem that votes for this bill
I know we all hate populism and I do too, but maybe what we need is our own version of the Tea Party. Whatever it takes to win
Schumer can’t be minority leader. He isn’t t cut out for opposition under normal circumstances. Given what Trump has been up to, his fecklessness is frankly dangerous to the country.
Should senate dems even try to extract concessions from the GOP? They have the majority. They’ve never cooperated when the shoe was on the other foot. Let them pass whatever bill they can actually agree on, however long that actually takes. Show the American people how well the GOP can govern.