Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La, talks to press in December of 2024. The House passed a spending bill Tuesday that must pass the Senate to avoid a government shutdown. Photo by Annabelle Gordon/UPI |
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March 12 (UPI) -- Senate Democrats have vowed to shut down the federal government rather than support a House-approved budget resolution to avert a pending government shutdown at the end of the day Friday.
"Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input from congressional Democrats," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday during the Senate floor debate, NBC News reported.
Schumer and Senate Democrats instead of advocating for a 30-day continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through April 11 and allow time for bipartisan negotiations on a funding bill that would run through the remainder of the 2025 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, ABC News reported.
Schumer said the Senate Democratic Party caucus is "unified" in opposing the GOP funding measure in favor of the Democrats' 30-day proposal.
The House GOP funding resolution, which if passed, would fund the government through September. Should it fail to pass in the Senate, the government will shut down at the end of the day Friday.
The measure passed the House almost exactly down party lines at 217-213, with one Republican voting no and one Democrat voting yes.
However, to pass in the Senate, it requires 60 votes, which means some of the 45 Democrats and two independent senators would have to cross party lines to approve the measure along with all 53 Republican senators.
It is unclear whether enough Democrats will vote to pass a bill they overwhelmingly don't like to avoid a government shutdown.
"There are really only two options: One is vote for a pretty bad CR. Or the other is to vote for a potentially even worse shutdown," Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said of the situation.
The bill, if passed, would decrease overall spending but would increase military spending.
It also would increase spending for ICE deportation operations but leaves out emergency funding for disasters.
The proposed funding measure also would increase W.I.C. spending and provide about $5 billion for veterans' health care, but overall non-defense spending is about $13 billion lower than fiscal 2024.
Democrats met Tuesday to discuss their option, but no consensus was achieved.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. called it the GOP funding measure a bill that is intended to create a shutdown.
"After months of bipartisan talks, they're walking away from the negotiating table and offering a non-starter House bill that forces us to the brink of a full government shutdown," Warren said. "The Republican shutdown playbook is dangerous, and it will hurt working families."
"Democrats in the House have showed us they are united," Warren said. "Why should it be different in the Senate?"
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., posted on X Wednesday that "I will vote NO." Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., posted Tuesday that "I will never vote to shut our government down."
The House has finished its session this week, so should the bill not pass, the government will shut down Friday night.
