Senate vote to avert government shutdown overshadowed by Democrat infighting

WASHINGTON (CN) — Congress on Friday passed a measure that would fund federal programs and avert a costly government shutdown.

But that move, a victory for Republicans, would not have been possible without a crucial change of heart from the Senate’s top Democrat, who voted to advance the GOP spending measure despite suggesting this week that he and his caucus would work to block it.

Senate Republicans led the charge to approve a six-month budget patch, known as a continuing resolution, that would extend funding for most federal agencies through September while trimming a handful of government programs.

The plan, which cleared the GOP-controlled House on Tuesday and passed the Senate Friday on a 54-46 vote, was scorned by Democrats who view the stopgap as a blank check for the Trump administration to enact policies and claw back government spending without congressional oversight.

Lawmakers also complained the proposed budget patch was developed and passed in the lower chamber without any bipartisan consultation.

Democrats had said that they would only back a continuing resolution which keeps federal programs funded for 30 days, or until April 11, while lawmakers negotiate full-year spending bills. And before Thursday night, the party’s Senate leadership appeared set on using procedural levers to halt the Republican budget measure even if it meant shutting the government down.

In order to pass the proposed GOP continuing resolution, the Senate had to first vote to limit debate on the measure — a process known as cloture. Approving cloture requires 60 votes, meaning that Republicans had to score some Democratic defections to advance their budget stopgap.

And though Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proclaimed this week that Republicans did not have the votes to pass cloture on the continuing resolution, by Thursday night he had apparently changed his mind and said on the Senate floor that the proposed measure was bad but that a shutdown was “much, much worse.”

The Democratic leader reasoned that shutting down the government would hand a political victory to Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk, contending that they would continue to raid government agencies even if funding were allowed to lapse.

Schumer completed his political somersault Friday, hours before the government’s midnight funding deadline, by voting to advance the Republican spending resolution. Several other Democrats, including Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, joined him and gave the measure its needed bipartisan push.

The Senate approved cloture on the legislation Friday evening on a 62-38 vote.

But the Democratic leader’s change of tune did not go unnoticed by his colleagues on Capitol Hill and Democratic party advocates, who were livid about what they saw as Schumer caving to Republicans and the White House.

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who has reportedly been fielding calls to mount a primary challenge against the top Senate Democrat — told reporters at a Democratic caucus retreat in Leesburg, Virginia, that there was a “deep sense of outrage and betrayal” among her fellow party members.

On Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday refused to say whether he had confidence in Schumer’s leadership, but rejected calls from reporters to clarify his stance.

“Do you think that this is what the American people care about right now?” he said. “Or do they want us to do everything that we can to stop this partisan and harmful Republican bill from actually becoming law?”

Elsewhere in the Capitol complex, police officers arrested a group of protesters from the environmental advocacy group the Sunrise Movement who demonstrated outside Schumer’s office holding signs which read “step up or step aside” and urging him to reject the Republican budget measure

And Pass the Torch, a Democrat-aligned advocacy organization originally established to urge former President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, announced Friday morning that it was mounting a campaign to encourage Schumer to resign as Senate minority leader.

“Chuck Schumer is unwilling and unable to meet the moment,” the group said in a statement. “His sole job is to fight MAGA’s fascist takeover of our democracy — instead, he’s directly enabled it.”

Meanwhile, Trump himself thanked the Democratic leader for “doing the right thing” by backing the GOP’s budget legislation.

“[R]eally good and smart move by Senator Schumer,” the president wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning!”

Despite Schumer’s last-minute decision to back the Republican continuing resolution, many Democrats refused to follow his lead. More than two dozen Democratic lawmakers voted against advancing the measure to a final vote.

Washington Senator Patty Murray, another top Democrat, said on the Senate floor ahead of Friday’s cloture vote that she would not support a budget resolution that her party was not allowed to consult on.

“Please, let’s remember, Republicans control the House, the Senate and the White House,” she said. “If you refuse to put forward an offer that includes any Democratic input, you don’t get any Democratic votes.”

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