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Senate Democrats have signaled that they will not support a continuing resolution bill to fund the government that is being offered by Republican lawmakers, setting up a potential government shutdown if a deal cannot be reached by Friday at midnight.
The resolution offered by Republicans, already passed in the GOP-run House of Representatives, would make substantial government cuts (including reducing the budget of Washington, D.C. by $1 billion). But it would allow government functions to continue for the next six months — albeit likely with Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) continuing to slash funding and fire federal workers en masse.
Democrats face a tough decision: support the resolution and the cuts that come with it (including allowing DOGE to continue to function unimpeded) or block the resolution and risk a government shutdown. The latter option comes with political costs: It could result in voters blaming Democrats for the shutdown, which will inevitably reduce services for Americans for as long as it lasts.
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Although they are the minority party in the chamber, Senate Democrats can block the measure through a filibuster. Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has indicated that he won’t support the bill, being the only GOP senator so far to say as much. That means that at least eight Democrats would have to join with Republicans in order to reach cloture on the bill.
After a meeting of Senate Democrats on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) indicated that the conference wouldn’t support the continuing resolution. Schumer spun the blame to Republicans, whom he said made no effort to discuss the matter with Democrats in the several days before the deadline approached.
“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 Senate floor. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”
Instead, Schumer said Democrats would call for a one-month “clean” funding bill — one that doesn’t make huge cuts for now but allows for negotiations between the parties to happen during that window.
“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,” Schumer added. “I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.”
But privately, some Democrats have indicated that there is enough support for passing the continuing resolution. According to reporting from The Hill, Schumer is supposedly “giving plenty of room to centrists in his caucus to vote” in favor of the resolution to avoid a government shutdown.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) is the most outspoken Democrat supporting the bill’s passage. “It’s a CR that we all agree we don’t like — but for me we can’t ever allow the government to shut down,” Fetterman said on CNN Wednesday.
But other Democrats have also indicated that they won’t back the bill.
“I will be voting NO on the CR,” Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said on X. “Virginians deserve more than letting Elon & Trump run wild through our government, slashing jobs and cutting services. Let’s pass a 30-day extension and get an actual deal done.”
Progressive lawmakers have similarly spoken out against the bill, saying it will only empower Republicans to keep doing what they have done so far — and allow President Donald Trump and Musk to continue their legally dubious campaign to gut the federal government.
“You run the government. If you have the votes, then go ahead. If you need Democrats, then you need to negotiate with Democrats. Those are your two options,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated on social media.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) also indicated that she wouldn’t vote for the resolution.
“I don’t understand how anyone can support a bill that would give Donald Trump the opportunity to fire another 25,000 veterans and take away nursing home spots from tens of thousands of seniors, all so that the Republicans can give $4.7 trillion in giveaways to billionaires and billionaire corporations,” Warren told reporters.
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