Latest news with #Schumer
15 hours ago
- Business
Senate kicks off fraught appropriations process against shutdown deadline
The Senate on Wednesday took a step toward approving its first appropriation bill, agreeing to advance military construction and Veterans Affairs spending in a 90-8 vote. But lawmakers have a long way to go to avoid a government shutdown, with 12 appropriations bills to get through before the Sept. 30 deadline. The House, which has passed two appropriations bills, saw its legislative session ended early by Speaker Mike Johnson amid turmoil over the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. The Senate is set to begin its August recess next week, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune has kept open the possibility of canceling the weekslong break at President Donald Trump's request to advance his nominees. And unlike many of the things that Republicans have done this Congress, passing any of the 12 appropriations bills in the Senate will require 60 votes to pass. Thune, during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," said "we've got to find a way" to start moving the measures. "We are going to need to get appropriations done. That will require some cooperation from Democrats and hopefully they will be willing to make sure that the government is funded," Thune told host Maria Bartiromo. Democrats seek to strategize on funding Democrats met behind closed doors on Tuesday to try to hash out a cohesive strategy for approaching government funding ahead of the s hutdown deadline. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also met with their Democratic appropriators. At a brief joint press conference afterward, Schumer and Jeffries said Democrats were committed to a "bipartisan, bicameral" appropriations process but blamed Republicans for making a clear path forward to averting a shutdown difficult. "As has always been the case we are prepared to engage in those discussions in good faith, but House Republicans are not there. House Republicans are in fact marching us toward a possible government shutdown that will hurt the American people. We remain ready, willing and able to have the type of appropriations process that will yield a good result for the American people, but that process must be bipartisan and bicameral in nature," Jeffries said. Schumer said Senate Democrats supported the first appropriations bill on military construction and VA funding because it will help veterans and undo some cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency -- but that other issues wouldn't be as simple. Democrats are weighing a number of considerations as they think about how to deal with government funding, especially with most saying they feel scorned after Republicans struck $9 billion in previously-approved funds from the federal budget. Republicans were able to pass the rescissions package, which included cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting, without any Democratic support. Democrats say it amounts to a betrayal of a previous agreement that's left them reluctant about future deals. "Speaking for myself, I am really hard put to vote for appropriations when I know Republicans are just going to ride roughshod and reverse them down the line on a strictly partisan basis," Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said on Monday. "The pattern of partisan betrayal on the part of my colleagues gives me a lot of pause so I am really torn about it." Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, echoed those sentiments. "There's a trust issue that we have to have to legislate where you reach an agreement and then there's a switch-a-roo on rescissions and you have 60 votes and it suddenly goes to 50," Welch said. "What we thought was solid and set in stone suddenly melts away, that is a problem." Thune on Tuesday also called for a bipartisan path forward on the appropriations process, but put the onus on Democrats to work with Republicans. "The Democrats have indicated, because they're so upset over the rescissions bill last week -- which, by the way, cut one-tenth of 1 percent of all federal spending -- that somehow they can use that as an excuse to shut down the appropriations process and therefore shut down the government," Thune said at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership. "We think that would be a big mistake, and hopefully they will think better of it and work with us." The White House, though, has made the case the government funding process should be "less bipartisan." "It's not going to keep me up at night, and I think it will lead to better results, by having the appropriations process be a little bit partisan. And I don't think it's necessarily leading to a shutdown," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told reporters last week. "Who ran and won on the on an agenda of a bipartisan appropriations process? Literally no one. No Democrat, no Republican," he added. "There is no voter in the country that's went to the polls and said, 'I'm voting for a bipartisan appropriations process.'" Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, said on the Senate floor before Wednesday's vote that she thought his process should move forward in its historically bipartisan fashion despite Republicans' recent moves to work on government funding through a rescissions package. "To be clear, if Republicans continue cutting bipartisan deals with more rescissions, that's not cooperation," Murray said. She added, "So for anyone considering the partisan route, you cannot write a bill without talking to Democrats and then act surprised when Democrats don't support it. You want our votes. You work with us, and this bill today that we're considering shows that is possible."
The Hill
a day ago
- Business
- The Hill
Democrats divided over looming government shutdown fight
Democrats are deeply divided over how hard to press their leverage with President Trump and his Republican allies on getting concessions in a bill to fund the government that needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown. Senate Democrats held a tense lunch meeting Tuesday to discuss their plan for how to vote on the first spending bill to reach the floor — the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill — as well as their strategy for how to handle the end-of-September government funding deadline. Soon after that session, which stretched to nearly 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) met with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) to piece together a strategy as progressives called for them to take a hard line with Republicans. 'It's hard to negotiate a budget with Republicans right now because they have demonstrated that they will cut a deal and then turn around and change the deal solely to benefit themselves. That's not a deal, that's like cutting a deal to buy a car, and then long after the price has been paid, the Republicans want to come and repossess the tires. It doesn't work that way,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. 'My views on engaging in pretend negotiations with Republicans who are simply in a power grab and will do whatever Donald Trump tells them to do [is that it] doesn't make a lot of sense,' Warren said. Some disgruntled progressives are vowing they cannot repeat the mistake they made in March, when 10 Democratic senators including Schumer voted for a partisan government funding package passed by the House, which cut Democratic priorities and failed to put guardrails on Elon Musk or the Department of Government Efficiency. Democrats are arguing behind closed doors that they need to make every effort to insist that Republicans agree to bipartisan legislation to fund the government. If Republicans refuse, these Democrats say they should then blame Trump and his GOP allies for any ensuing shutdown. Democratic lawmakers say Schumer is 'afraid' of how a shutdown would play out politically and wants to avoid such a scenario at almost all costs. At the same time, Democrats warn that if Schumer votes again for a partisan funding package that barely squeaks through Congress with minimal Democratic support, there will likely be a strong backlash from the party base. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat representing swing-state Pennsylvania, argues Congress should do everything it can to avoid a government shutdown that would result in hundreds of thousands of federal employees being furloughed. 'I was the first to say I will never vote to shut the government down, and that hasn't changed and it's not going to change,' Fetterman told The Hill. 'Shutting the government down — how could you do that and plunge our country into chaos?' he added. Schumer acknowledged his dilemma Tuesday, telling reporters he wants to reach a deal with Republicans but complaining that Trump's allies aren't making it easy. 'We Democrats want a bipartisan deal. We're working together to get one, but the bottom line is Republicans are making it much harder — rescissions, impoundment, pocket rescissions directly undoes this,' he said, referring to the rescissions package Republicans passed last week to defund PBS, NPR and global aid programs. 'You can't say you want a bipartisan process … and at the same time put rescissions on the floor, which is the antithesis of bipartisan,' he said. Recent polling shows Democrats have a lower approval rating than Republicans. Some Democratic senators think the party's poor rating stems from a perception that they aren't putting up enough of a fight against Trump and the GOP. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, is now pushing an amendment to prevent the White House from advancing another rescissions package. He wants Republicans to agree to it before advancing annual appropriations legislation. Some progressives argue it would be foolish to agree to bipartisan spending bills to keep the government open only to watch Republicans later advance rescissions packages to cut funding for Democratic priorities, such as women's health care, education and environmental programs. Democrats are also toying with the idea of insisting Republicans agree to extend enhanced health care insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are due to expire at the end of the year. Republicans decided not to do so as part of tax credits extended in Trump's tax and spending megabill, leaving Democrats warning that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance. 'We had a constructive lunch and we've got some very significant issues right in front of us,' said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the ranking member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Coons said he and his staff is working well with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the chair of the subcommittee, but cautioned there's a 'real tension' being created by the threat that the White House budget office director, Russell Vought, will send another rescissions package to Congress. 'The next rescission is predicted will go after education,' Coons said. 'It was one of the early targets of DOGE [the Department of Government Efficiency]. When they start trying to rescission things like Veterans Administration, defense, Social Security, you get right into the very heart of what impacts the lives of millions of Americans. And he warned that the 'so-called 'big, beautiful bill' is going to throw something like 17 million Americans off of health care.' Coons said he supports Merkley's amendment to stop future rescissions packages. 'Having a process whereby they can reach a bipartisan agreement with us and then undo it with a partisan rescissions process — in the long-term, that is not a sustainable process,' he said. Asked about Democrats' game plan for a government shutdown fight, Coons said: 'Lots of things about the appropriations process were discussed.'
Politico
a day ago
- Business
- Politico
Senate takes first bipartisan step on government funding ahead of September shutdown cliff
The Senate cleared the first hurdle Tuesday toward passing a government funding bill meant to keep federal cash flowing for several federal agencies beyond September. The 90-8 vote was a major bipartisan overture in cross-party government funding talks strained by the GOP's partisan moves to cut and boost federal cash without Democratic buy-in, while President Donald Trump withholds billions of dollars more that Congress approved in bipartisan votes. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah was the only Republican to vote 'no,' joined by other Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff of California, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Peter Welch of Vermont. Welch's fellow Vermonter, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, also opposed moving ahead with consideration of the package. But the bipartisanship is not guaranteed to last. Though Democrats helped overcome Tuesday's hurdle, they aren't committed yet to helping pass the bill, which will at the very least contain funding for the Department and Veterans Affairs and military construction projects. And as lawmakers stare down the Sept. 30 government shutdown cliff in just 10 weeks, fiscal conservatives and the White House are again calling for Republicans to abandon funding negotiations with Democrats. Ahead of the procedural vote Tuesday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the Senate's veterans funding bill as containing 'some important steps to reverse a number of the awful cuts' posed by the Department of Government Efficiency and White House budget director Russ Vought. But Schumer also warned Republicans not to bank on automatically having Democratic votes to pass the bill, adding: 'We will see how the floor process evolves here on the floor. Given Republicans' recent actions undermining bipartisan appropriations, nothing is guaranteed.' The contents of the package are also still in flux. The measure will certainly contain funding for the VA and military construction projects, but Republicans also plan to add largely non-controversial funding for federal agriculture programs, the FDA and operations of Congress. 'I'd like to make it a package of bills, and get as many bills going as we can,' Majority Leader John Thune said in a brief interview, adding that there was a 'discussion' about what to do with more controversial funding for the Justice Department and FBI. Thune could get heat from his own members. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview he objected to leadership's desire to attach the agriculture and legislative branch spending bills to the pending package, saying he wanted to vote on each measure 'separately' and that the bill funding congressional operations would cost 'too much money.' On the other side of the aisle, Schumer is trying to hone the Democratic government funding strategy after caving to Republicans' strong-arm tactics in March. Democrats haven't settled on what their demands should be heading into September — and there are competing factions split over how hard the party should fight against even bipartisan funding bills in the wake of Republicans green-lighting Trump's $9 billion funding clawbacks package.
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Senate Dems preserve shutdown leverage over Trump, GOP
Top Democrats supported the first appropriations bill of the summer Tuesday night, but they aren't taking a government shutdown off the table in October. Why it matters: The procedural vote on the MilCon-VA bill was 90-8. But those numbers are slightly deceiving. They don't capture the Democrats' frustration over rescissions — and fear and misgivings about the appropriations process to come. What they're saying: "There's the CR issues, and then there's today's issues," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Axios. "I would just separate those for now."' "It's just a motion to proceed, and we look forward to the amendment process," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. "We're making these decisions vote by vote as is our responsibility to do," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Axios. Driving the news: In the end, only seven Democrats voted against moving forward with the funding bill. That gave leaders the space to make the distinction between supporting normal appropriations bills and a continuing resolution they will almost certainly confront in September. "It was done in a bipartisan process, no doubt about it," Schumer said. "It undoes many of the awful DOGE cuts to veterans." And the vote on Tuesday only opened debate on the bill, which Democrats haven't committed to supporting in the end. What to watch: Schumer was expected to huddle Tuesday night with top Senate and House Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), to discuss government funding. Zoom out: Democrats are divided on how much to help Republicans fund the government — and when and where to fight them on the principles that animate their party. Some progressive senators are vowing to withhold their votes on spending bills unless they receive ironclad assurances that Republicans won't pursue any more rescissions packages. "Why would anyone trust the Republicans at this point?" Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told Axios. Zoom in: Some GOP appropriators seem sympathetic to the Democratic complaints about the role rescissions can play in the appropriations process. Democrats have a "valid concern" about making spending deals just to be undone through rescissions, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said last week. The bottom line: Senate Democrats don't have to decide in July whether they want to risk shutting down the government in October.
The Hill
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Schumer, Jeffries meet to discuss government funding strategy
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) are scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss and coordinate Democratic strategy ahead of September's partisan battle to fund the government and avoid shutting down federal agencies, according to a senior Democratic aide. Government funding will expire on Sept. 30 and Senate Democrats are having an intense debate behind closed doors over what line to take if House Republicans again send a partisan continuing resolution that cuts funding for Democratic priorities. Schumer was one of 10 Democratic senators who voted in March to approve a House GOP-drafted funding bill, despite loud calls from many Democratic colleagues to reject the measure. Schumer argued at the time that while he viewed House funding package as bad legislation, passing it would be better than risking a shutdown. 'While the [continuing resolution] bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,' he warned in March. Schumer's vote sparked an angry revolt from liberal Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who criticized the decision to support the partisan GOP funding package as acquiescing to Trump. Even Jeffries seemed caught off guard by Schumer's support for the GOP bill in March after he whipped his vulnerable Democratic colleagues representing districts that President Trump won in 2024 to vote against the measure. Democratic leaders hope to be better coordinated when they square off against Republicans in the next round of the government funding battle in September.
