- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he would no longer block the Republican spending bill, avoiding a potential government shutdown despite his opposition to the resolution.
- Schumer warned that a shutdown could enable the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to further its goal of reducing the federal workforce, criticizing the administration’s intentions.
- Democrats hoped to push for a 30-day stopgap extension to allow bipartisan compromise. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman expressed support for the Republican-backed resolution, opposing any government shutdown.
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says he will not continue to hold up the Republican spending bill, a move that would have likely led to a government shutdown on Friday night. The New York Democrat spoke on the Senate floor, saying the effects of a shutdown are a worst-case scenario for the American people.
“No one on my side of the aisle wants a government shutdown,” Schumer said Thursday.
He maintained his opposition to the resolution but walked back from statements he made Wednesday. Schumer had said Republicans lacked the votes to escape a filibuster from Democrats opposed to spending cuts in the measure.
“It’s not really a decision, it’s a Hobson’s choice,” Schumer said. “Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump rolling America into the chaos of a shutdown.”
Schumer told colleagues in a closed-door meeting before he made his floor speech.
DOGE looms
Schumer warned that the administration, particularly the Department of Government Efficiency, would capitalize on a government shutdown to further its goal of reducing the federal workforce.
“There is nobody in the world, nobody, who wants to shut the government down more than Donald Trump and more than Elon Musk,” he said.
Other plans
Democrats were hoping to force Republicans to consider a separate 30-day stopgap extension that would open the door to a bipartisan compromise.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman is one of the only Democrats who have said they would support the Republican-backed resolution. He told reporters on Thursday that lawmakers shouldn’t ever shut down the government.
