Update (2130ET): Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) completely nuked any prospect of passing the House-passed continuing resolution on Wednesday, after he announced that most Democrats in the upper chamber will not support the bill, all but ensuring a government shutdown on Friday at 11:59 p.m.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their [continuing resolution] without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said on the floor of the Senate late Wednesday.
“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 [CR through April 11] that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”
The legislation needs at least 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, meaning at least seven Democrats would need to join the Republicans if Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) were a yes. Since Paul is a ‘no’ – at least 8 Democrats would need to join.
Following Tuesday night’s vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced the lower chamber of Congress would recess until March 24, leaving Schumer with the option of accepting the House bill and keeping the federal lights on over the objection of progressive activists, or rejecting it and putting the nation’s capital on course for the 11th partial government shutdown since 1980.
In a statement after the lower chamber passed the funding bill, Johnson said it was “decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down.” -NY Post
Either way, that’s moot until further notice…
With the latest shutdown ‘looming’ (once again), Senate Democrats are playing chicken over a short-term funding bill which passed on Tuesday in the House – as at least 8 Democrats will need to join the Republicans in order to pass it by Friday’s deadline, while Sens. Adam Schiff and Chuck Schumer digging in against it and pushing for a 30-day funding stopgap instead so they can renegotiate the larger stopgap.
According to Axios, Senate Democrats left a private meeting on Wednesday saying there aren’t enough votes to advance the bill, raising the chances of a government shutdown this weekend.
And according to Semafor, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer – while privately counseling his caucus for weeks that a shutdown would be bad politics for Democrats – is now telling them to push for an ‘alternate’ stopgap, Semafor reports further.
To that end, Senate Democrats are now pushing for a 30-day funding package that would give bipartisan negotiators more time to reach a deal.
“Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from congressional Democrats. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR [continuing resolution],” said Schumer.
“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. I hope, I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.“
“Democrats had nothing to do with this bill. And we want an opportunity to get an amendment vote or two. So that’s what we are insisting on to vote for cloture,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) – Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 running mate whose crazy Antifa son was placed on probation in 2017 for rioting.
As Politico notes, the situation isn’t great.
With 52 Republicans expected to back the House-passed stopgap, eight Democrats would need to help advance it to a final Senate vote. So far only one — Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — has indicated he’ll support it. Other key swing voters are on the fence.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told reporters Wednesday that he remains undecided on the seven-month funding bill, which passed the House mostly along party lines Tuesday. Asked when he would make a decision, he quipped he’d make up his mind before the end of the Senate vote on the bill, which hasn’t yet been scheduled.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is a ‘no’ on the bill.
Will Democrats risk taking the blame for a government shutdown? Looks like it.
“I do not want to shut down our government, I want to improve it, streamline it and ensure it delivers services our communities need,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), while Rep. Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been rallying Senate Democrats to unite against the bill.
“People aren’t going to be tricked with procedural games. They know exactly what is going on,” she wrote on social media.