Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on March 13 that he is open to voting on a Democratic amendment to a GOP bill to keep the government going past March 14.
The Democratic amendment would keep the government open for 28 days until April 11. This plan was advanced in opposition to a Republican six-month spending bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to boost defense spending and cut non-defense spending over last year’s levels.
The House of Representatives on March 11 passed the GOP bill that would fund the government through Sept. 30 and increase defense spending by about $6 billion while cutting non-defense spending by some $13 billion. The lower chamber is currently in recess.
“If they want a vote on that in exchange for getting us the votes to pass the [CR] to Sept. 30, I think we’re open to that,” Thune told reporters.
“But as you all know, the House is gone, so whatever happens is going to have to be the final action here, and really, it’s up to them.”
The Senate majority leader said he hasn’t heard from Senate Democrats yet about their plan, adding that he doesn’t know if a shutdown will happen. Congress is less than two days away from a government shutdown deadline on Friday at midnight.
“I don’t know. We’ll see. I hope not,” Thune said. “It’s up to them. It’s their call. The ball is in their court.”
The GOP controls the Senate with 53 seats but needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and advance the bill toward a final vote. With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) against the bill, the GOP needs eight Democrats to join them in getting it over the finish line.
“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 on the Senate floor. “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.”
In a speech on the Senate floor on March 13, Thune criticized the Democrats’ stance.
“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,” he said. “So far, it’s looking like they plan to shut it down.
“I’m not sure how long the Democrat leader thinks we should drag out the funding process for fiscal year 2025,” he continued. “Until fiscal year 2026? Beyond?”
Thune said Schumer did not bring forth appropriations bills when he was the majority leader, leading to stopgap measures.
The House does not return until March 24, while the Senate is scheduled to recess on March 14 and return the same day as the House.
Some Democrats said they are facing a dilemma because they want neither a government shutdown nor the Republican CR.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said a government shutdown might provide an advantage to the Trump administration’s efforts in downsizing the federal spending and workforce.
It “simply lets [President] Donald Trump continue to shut down more and more and more of government,“ Warren said. ”That is a problem.”
Trump said Democrats will be to blame if the government shuts down.
“If there’s a shutdown, it’s only because of the Democrats, and they would really be taking away a lot from our country and from the people of our country.”
