WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senate Democrats were wrestling on Wednesday with how to respond to a stopgap funding bill passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, choosing between voting for a bill many of them oppose or allowing a government shutdown.
President Donald Trump’s Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, but would need the support of at least some Democrats to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to pass most legislation. It could vote on the measure as soon as Wednesday, depending on Democrats’ plans, a source familiar with the Senate Republican discussions said.
“There’s a lot of discussion,” said Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
The Maine lawmaker summed up the choice as voting for “a pretty bad” bill or casting a vote that would trigger a partial government shutdown beginning on Saturday, at a time when Trump and his adviser Elon Musk are already moving rapidly to slash the federal government.
“If you’re dealing with people who would just as soon have a shutdown, there’s less chance of getting something,” King said. “They could say we’re going to let the government shutdown for months.”
Congressional brinkmanship, including repeated near-misses with shutdowns and over the nation’s $36 trillion in debt, has contributed to global ratings agencies’ moves to downgrade the U.S. federal government’s once-pristine credit rating.
Democrats have long chided Republicans for threatening or voting for government shutdowns, and Republicans were quick to call them out for considering votes that could risk one.
“While Senate Republicans are working hard to prevent a government shutdown, it will ultimately be up to Senate Democrats to decide whether or not they turn out the lights on the federal government,” Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said on X.
Hours before the House passed its measure on Tuesday, Senate Democrats huddled behind closed doors in an extended lunchtime discussion on their way forward, cognizant that Republicans were poised to blame them for a shutdown if they block the House-passed bill.
Without action by Congress, existing federal funds run out at midnight Friday for agencies that oversee programs for veterans, law enforcement, medical researchers, schools, air traffic controllers and many others.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer’s office did not respond to requests for comment on how he planned to proceed.
Other Democrats said they were unsure on their path forward.
“The last thing in the world I want to do is give Elon Musk more power than he already has” by voting for this funding bill, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told reporters after the House vote. “He’s an unelected autocrat.”
But Blumenthal said there were additional considerations to weigh before deciding how he will vote on the spending bill.
Still, other Senate Democrats last week made clear that they do not favor voting for government shutdowns under any circumstance.
House Republicans have rejected a proposal by several Democrats and even some leading Senate Republicans to take a middle ground by passing a 30-day extension of funding to give the time needed to complete the regular appropriations bills that are more comprehensive.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said he might propose “some kind of open amendment process” which would give Senate Democrats a chance to make changes to the bill.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, David Morgan, Bo Erickson and Gabriella Borter; Editing by Scott Malone and Lincoln Feast.)
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