As we wrote yesterday, the House’s passage of a Republican stopgap funding bill has put Senate Democrats in a bind: Either back a measure they disapprove of and give up some of the only leverage they will have on major legislation this year, or reject it and allow a government shutdown to occur.
That bind was on full display today as they debated their next moves with the government set to run out of money in just over 48 hours.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer finally staked out his position, saying Democrats wouldn’t provide the votes to pass the GOP's six-month continuing resolution. The measure requires 60 votes to advance in the Senate, and Republicans only control 53 seats.
“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. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR,” Schumer said.
Instead, he called for a one-month funding bill to provide more time to both sides to negotiate a deal.
“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," he said. "I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday."
Schumer’s remarks on the Senate floor came after a lunch meeting among Democratic senators. Outside the room, reporters could hear senators loudly making their point to their colleagues.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said they want to have the ability to propose changes to the bill.
“There are not the votes right now to pass it,” Kaine said. “Democrats had nothing to do with this bill. And we want an opportunity to get an amendment vote or two. And so that’s what we are insisting on.”
Still, some Democrats fear that a shutdown would be worse than accepting the bill.
“Quite frankly, both outcomes are bad,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said. “Elections have consequences, but this is an extreme bill. If it passes, it will hurt a lot of ordinary people on the ground. If the government shuts down, that will hurt a lot of ordinary people on the ground, and so that is the dilemma in which we found ourselves.”
“I’m weighing the badness of each option,” added Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders urged their Senate counterparts to vote down the GOP funding bill as they kicked off a three-day policy retreat.
Read more from Sahil Kapur, Ryan Nobles, Julie Tsirkin and Frank Thorp V →
