WASHINGTON—Senate Democrats will not vote for the government funding bill passed by House Republicans, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Republicans need Democrat votes to push their bill through the Senate, but the Democrats want a clean 30-day government spending bill. A clean continuing resolution (CR) would fund the government at current levels for another 30 days.
The government is set to shut down on March 14 if Congress fails to pass a CR.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their CR without any input from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said.
“Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass. We should vote on that.”
Cloture requires 60 votes in order to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. It applies to most legislation. The GOP holds a slim majority in the upper congressional chamber with 53 seats.
The measure also includes a provision that would prevent congressional Democrats from bringing up resolutions to block President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on both Canada and Mexico. Trump also imposed a 10 percent tariff on Canadian energy.
The House recessed on March 11 and does not return until March 24. The Senate is scheduled for recess next week.
At an annual strategy retreat for House Democrats in Leesburg, Virginia, Democrats signaled opposition to the spending bill that has now become the Senate’s responsibility.
“We’re standing on the side of working families. Our message to the Senate is: Stand with us on that side,” Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said during the opening news conference for the retreat, which started just one day after the continuing resolution passed in the House.
“We think that our vote gives the Senate the strength and the message they need to stand up as well.”
Speaking to reporters on March 11, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) urged Senate Democrats to opt for the 30-day continuing resolution in lieu of the longer-term spending fix that passed the House.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, stressed that he was representing House Democrats rather than his counterparts in the Senate.
“We’re going to wait for the white smoke just like everybody else,” he said. “Elon Musk and Donald Trump are systematically already shutting down the federal government. Why we would want any part of that, I have no idea.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said the GOP bill “simply lets Donald Trump continue to shut down more and more and more of government. That is a problem.”
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with the Democrats, told reporters that shutting the government could have the opposite effect of helping government workers amid the sizable cuts in the bureaucracy by the Trump administration.
“This is a classic no-win situation,” he said.
On the other hand, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said he would vote for the funding bill.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) was mum when asked how he would vote on the GOP bill were the Democrat amendment to fail.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Senate Democrats should be considered at fault if they block the bill.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) concurred.
“It would be foolish for my Democrat colleagues to shut down government,” he said.
