A gaggle of 10 Democrats, together with Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), on Friday voted to advance a Republican-crafted invoice to fund the federal government by Sept. 30, taking a vital step towards avoiding a authorities shutdown whereas infuriating many inside their get together.
The pivotal procedural vote, which handed 62-38, places the invoice on a glide path to cross the Senate someday Friday afternoon, regardless of fierce opposition from many Democrats.
The Democrats who voted to advance the measure additionally included Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Unwell.) and Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Angus King (Maine), an impartial who caucuses with Democrats.
Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) introduced an settlement shortly earlier than 4:30 p.m. EDT Friday to vote to right away advance the Home-passed funding invoice and think about 4 amendments to the laws.
One modification sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Unwell.) would reinstate veterans who have been fired from their federal jobs beneath Trump. One other, sponsored by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), would remove the Division of Authorities Effectivity. A 3rd, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would codify the cuts to overseas help really useful by the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
The entire amendments are anticipated to fail.
Schumer opened the door for some Democratic colleagues to vote to advance the invoice by saying Thursday he would accomplish that to keep away from a authorities shutdown.
He warned a shutdown would give Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk — Trump’s chief funds cutter — large leverage to maintain federal workers out of labor and to maintain federal businesses shuttered for weeks and even months.
“Government funding expires at midnight tonight. As I announced yesterday, I will vote to keep the government open. I believe it is the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people,” Schumer mentioned on the ground earlier than the vote.
Fetterman, who represents Pennsylvania, a state Trump carried in 2024, mentioned he would vote to advance the Home GOP invoice as a result of he feared a authorities shutdown would harm too many individuals.
“I’m going to stand on what I happen to believe is the right thing to do,” he mentioned. “What’s the exit plan once we shut the government down? What about the millions of Americans who are going to have their lives damaged?”
However Schumer’s choice to vote to advance the invoice, which he acknowledged Thursday is a “very bad” invoice, has sparked an offended backlash from Democratic progressives and Home leaders.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) warned that Schumer can be making a “tremendous mistake.”
After studying of Schumer’s choice, Ocasio-Cortez instructed reporters “there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal.”
“And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board, the entire party,” she mentioned.
Ocasio-Cortez mentioned Schumer betrayed Home Democrats in districts that Trump received in 2024 who took very powerful votes towards the invoice earlier this week. Just one Democrat voted for the measure within the Home.
She mentioned these susceptible Home Democrats took a tricky vote “to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, just to see some Senate Democrats” acquiesce to Musk.
“I think it is a huge slap in the face,” she mentioned.
Home Democratic management had additionally spent the week urgent Senate Democrats to carry agency and block the invoice.
“We’re standing on the side of working families, and that’s why our message to the Senate is also: Stand with us on that side,” Home Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) mentioned earlier this week. “And we think that our vote gives the Senate the strength and the message that they need to stand up as well.”
Requested repeatedly Friday earlier than the vote whether or not he had misplaced confidence in Schumer, Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) demurred.
“Next question,” he mentioned.
And a number of other susceptible Democratic senators got here out towards the invoice as nicely, together with Sens. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) and Jon Ossoff (Ga.), who introduced Thursday they might oppose the Home invoice.
“This bill is bad for Michigan. It makes significant cuts to Michigan’s key infrastructure projects, cuts the [Department of Veterans Affairs] and harms our Great Lakes,” Slotkin mentioned.
Ossoff argued the Home invoice “irresponsibly fails to impose any constraints on the reckless and out-of-control Trump administration.”
The Democratic activists group Go the Torch on Friday known as for Schumer to resign as Senate minority chief.
However Schumer argued that as unhealthy as Democrats suppose the Home-passed invoice is, it’s a higher choice than letting the federal government shut down at midnight.
Schumer known as it a “Hobson’s choice,” in different phrases a seeming selection the place in actuality there’s just one viable choice.
“The CR is a bad bill, but as bad as the CR is, I believe that allowing Trump to take more power is a far worse option,” he mentioned Friday morning. “A shutdown would allow [the Department of Government Efficiency] to shift into overdrive.”
Schumer has battled with progressives in his caucus as nicely, corresponding to Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who’ve known as on colleagues to push for a 30-day clear stopgap funding measure and to oppose the Home-passed invoice.
Sanders argued on the Senate flooring that passing the Home GOP-drafted funding invoice would worsen the crises going through the nation.
“It makes a bad situation much worse,” he mentioned. “It makes the financial struggles of working people even more difficult than they are today. And it does all of that … to lay the groundwork for massive tax breaks for Elon Musk and the billionaire class.”
Merkley instructed CNN in an interview that he was “hell no” on the Home invoice.
He argued that accepting the Home GOP invoice would solely embolden Trump and Musk.
“You don’t stop a bully by handing over your lunch money, and you don’t stop a tyrant by giving him more power,” he mentioned.
Sen. Andy Kim (D), a first-term lawmaker from New Jersey, mentioned he understood why Schumer and different Democratic colleagues voted for the Home-passed invoice, however he argued that Democrats have to ship a message by standing as much as Trump and his GOP-allies.
“I understand these concerns” a couple of authorities shutdown, he mentioned. “It’s an actual no-win scenario for America — not only for Democrats within the Senate however for the nation. Both means, persons are going to get harm. I perceive the issues concerning the potential for a shutdown. I don’t need it.
“But I disagree in terms of how this is unfolding,” he mentioned of the expectation the Home invoice would advance with some Democratic assist.
“A shutdown does give a tremendous leeway to [the Office of Management and Budget] to determine how limited resources are prioritized and triaged. There is no one in this administration more dangerous than [OMB Director] Russell Vought right now,” Kim acknowledged.
However he argued that Trump, Musk and Vought “are already taking such actions to shut down the government.”
“I personally believe you need to stand up to that type of action,” he mentioned. “I understand there’s deep uncertainty about what would have happened next but I, for one, was willing to go down that path.”
Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-03-15 03:14:50
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