Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) announced on Thursday that he will vote to move forward with a six-month government funding bill passed by the House, even though many Democrats strongly oppose it. They argue the bill would create a “slush fund” for President Trump and Elon Musk.
“I will vote to keep the government open, and not shut it down,” Schumer said.
Schumer is just the second Senate Democrat to announce he plans to vote in favor of the GOP bill, joining Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). This move is likely to encourage other Democrats to support advancing the 99-page bill. Schumer mentioned that many of his colleagues are still undecided and are closely examining the bill.
“As of Wednesday, there were not enough votes to pass it, but there are a lot of undecided votes. As members study it, they will make their own decision,” Schumer told reporters later.
Schumer and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) still need to agree on a time for voting on the funding bill. Democrats want to make changes to it, including offering a 30-day government funding proposal as an alternative.
Congress needs to pass a funding measure by the end of Friday to avoid a shutdown.
Schumer acknowledged that many Democrats think the bill is flawed, but he emphasized that a government shutdown would have much worse consequences for the country.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse. For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR, it is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs, but I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he said on the Senate floor.
Schumer warned that a shutdown could force Veterans Affairs offices to close, leaving veterans without essential services, and might lead to more job cuts at the Social Security Administration, hurting seniors and people with disabilities.
Schumer’s decision to support the House bill is a big shift from the day before, when he said the GOP bill lacked enough votes to pass in the Senate. He had also pushed for a vote on a clean 30-day funding stopgap, proposed by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
However, Schumer later said that efforts to get Republicans to back Murray’s 30-day bill had failed.
“Patty Murray worked extremely hard, as did our Appropriations Committee members, to get Republicans to support a 30-day bill so they could write a larger appropriations bill, but they wouldn’t go along,” Schumer said. “That’s regrettable, very, very regrettable.”
At a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats earlier that day, Schumer confirmed he would vote for a procedural motion, called cloture, to move the House-passed bill forward.
Senate Republicans control 53 seats and need eight Democratic votes to advance the GOP bill to a final vote. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said he will vote against it because it doesn’t do enough to cut the deficit.
The bill would increase defense spending by $6 billion while cutting non-defense programs by $13 billion. It needs 60 votes to move to a final vote.
Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has called the House-passed funding bill “a dumpster fire.”
Schumer’s decision to support the bill quickly drew criticism from progressive Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Ocasio-Cortez told CNN it would be a “tremendous mistake” for Schumer to vote for the House GOP funding bill.
When asked about the criticism, Schumer defended his decision: “The bottom line is you have to make these decisions based on what is best for not only your party but also your country. I firmly believe and always have that I made the right decision. People realize it’s a tough choice, but they understand I made it based on what I thought was best for the country, and I think they respect that.”
