Latest news with #governmentshutdown
Al Arabiya
31-07-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Partisan bitterness in Congress raises risk of US government shutdown
Growing Democratic rancor in the US Congress over President Donald Trump's tactics on the federal budget is threatening the long legislative tradition of funding the government through bipartisan deals, while raising the risk of a partial shutdown this fall. Republicans stirred the Democrats' distrust by clawing back $9 billion of congressionally approved money at the White House's behest and discussing making further such rescissions. Some hardline Republicans have floated the unprecedented idea of bypassing Senate rules requiring 60 of the 100 members to agree on most legislation to pass a funding bill for the fiscal year beginning October 1 without any Democratic votes. 'Republicans in Congress are bowing down to Donald Trump and ratifying some of his worst efforts,' Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a floor speech outlining her unwillingness to cooperate on government funding without a Republican agreement not to rescind the money later. 'The Trump administration is saying, loud and clear, Donald Trump makes all the decisions.' The budgeting process has long been strained. For almost three decades lawmakers have failed to pass the 12 bills that are meant to detail the government's discretionary spending and the government has partially shut down 14 times since 1981 as lawmakers have missed deadlines. The annual battle over discretionary spending involves less than a third of the roughly $6.75 trillion federal budget, with funding for programs like building roads and supporting schools. The rest is mandatory spending including Social Security, Medicare and roughly $1 trillion of financing costs for the nation's $36 trillion in debt. As the Senate prepares to leave Washington for a month-long summer recess, Republicans have also hardened their rhetoric about government funding by trying to blame any future shutdown on Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. 'If we end up with a Schumer shutdown at the end of the year, the Democrats are going to own that,' Senate Majority Leader John Thune told a news conference. The last government shutdown, which stretched over 35 days from late 2018 into early 2019, occurred during Trump's first term in office. Polling at the time showed that voters blamed Republicans for the disruption. The task of keeping the government funded has historically fallen to bipartisan negotiators to find deals that can pass the House of Representatives and garner the 60 votes needed to approve most legislation in the Senate. 'Budgeting is hard. Budgeting is governing. And the way things have been so politicized and partialized, it makes it almost impossible for Congress to legislate effectively,' said William Hoagland, a former Senate Republican aide and fiscal legislation veteran who is now at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. Hardline tactics This time around, the challenge has been complicated by the aggressive tactics of Trump budget director Russell Vought, who has withheld funding appropriated by Congress, succeeded in getting Republicans to defund Democratic priorities including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and threatened to use so-called pocket rescissions to withhold other allocated funds. Trump has also proposed a fiscal 2026 budget that calls for $163 billion in spending cuts. 'We all want to pursue a bipartisan, bicameral appropriations process,' Schumer told reporters. 'The Republicans are making it extremely difficult to do that.' Hardline conservative House Republicans have been discussing the possibility of setting a new precedent for partisanship by using the parliamentary process known as budget reconciliation to pass full-year 2026 funding legislation to reopen government agencies at lower spending levels in the event of a shutdown. The tactic was most recently used to pass Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill earlier this month. Democrats also used it under President Joe Biden to pass his domestic agenda. 'It's not a serious discussion yet. But it might be as we get closer to September 30,' said Representative Andy Harris, chair of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus. 'Bad idea' Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has floated the possibility of further reconciliation packages, said they have not considered the idea. Some traditional-minded Republicans have rejected it out of hand. 'That's a bad idea,' House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole said. 'It means everything has to be partisan all the time. Appropriations, historically, is bipartisan.' But hardliners who have seen their demands for deep spending cuts frustrated over the years say Republicans could need an alternative to the usual bipartisan path. 'We'd all prefer that you do the appropriations process. So, we should keep trying to get that done. But if we can't, and we have to look at something else, we'll look at something else,' said Representative Jim Jordan, a leading hardliner. 'Whether we'll do that or not, I don't know. But it's already happened,' the Ohio Republican said when asked about reconciliation as a way to reopen shuttered federal agencies. Experts say using reconciliation as a vehicle to reopen shuttered federal agencies may not be feasible, given that Congress would first need to pass a budget resolution that could take weeks or even months to craft. But hardliners say they are aware of that issue. 'It's hard to do reconciliation at the last minute. That's the problem,' said Representative Warren Davidson. Asked if the potentially long lead time ruled out its use, the Ohio Republican replied: 'I hope not. We're trying to make sure it doesn't die.'
CNN
23-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
‘We learned some lessons': How Chuck Schumer and Democrats are gearing up for the next funding fight with Trump
Democrats will soon face a significant test of their willingness to take on President Donald Trump with a fall funding deadline fast-approaching. And this time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer doesn't want to become his party's bogeyman. Months after a contentious fight that put him at the center of anti-Trump Democratic outrage, Schumer is already taking steps to avoid, once again, being put in an impossible position between Democratic voters gunning for an ugly shutdown fight with Trump and his party's long-time stance that Democrats should fund the government. This time, they don't want to find themselves with little leverage to get out of a government shutdown with a Republican president. Members say Schumer's strategy is to start laying the groundwork early for what will be a contentious and unpredictable post-August recess with the hope of avoiding the 'Democrats in disarray' narrative that plagued the party in the spring. 'We learned some lessons on what to do and not to do,' one Democratic senator said of the difference between now and the March funding fight. 'Schumer's working on trying to find a path that unifies us.' On Tuesday, Democrats held a lengthy caucus-wide meeting on the path ahead and the Senate minority leader met with his House counterpart, Hakeem Jeffries, later in the day. Members and aides caution there is no formal plan yet for how to tackle Democrats' next showdown with Trump, but it's clear Schumer wants to shield his party from the intense backlash it faced from their voters in March – and avoid his own black eye in the process. Finding consensus, however, won't be easy nor is it a guarantee in a diverse caucus where just nine members joined Schumer in voting with Republicans in March to keep the government open. Since then, Democrats' reasons for challenging Trump have only grown. Republicans passed a massive tax and spending cuts bill that included historic slashes to Medicaid and food programs with just GOP votes. Republicans also voted last week to claw back $9 billion in federal funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting that had already been appropriated by Congress. 'Here's where I am. Unless the Republicans agree to a no rescissions clause, a vote on an appropriations bill is a fake,' Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, told CNN. King was among those in the caucus who voted with Schumer and the GOP to keep the government open, but now King says he has not decided yet if he'd be willing to do that again in the fall. 'Why vote for an appropriation bill if two weeks from now they can submit a rescissions package and undo everything that is in the bill?' King asked. 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I am not going to be fooled twice.' The challenge for Democrats is that they are finding themselves between two realities. On the one hand, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and conservatives on Capitol Hill are signaling a willingness for steeper budget cuts that reflect the massive slashes from Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. On the other, Senate Democrats are also working cooperatively with Republicans on the appropriations panel to pass several of the bills to fund military and veterans, agriculture and the legislative branch with broad bipartisan support. And they realize that if the government does shut down –- they may not have the leverage to reopen it. 'There is a real tension between Russ Vought and OMB and the rescissions vote, which are going right at a stable, steady appropriations process and what has been happening on committee so far,' Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, the top Democrat on the Defense appropriations subcommittee, said. Tuesday night, most Senate Democrats joined Republicans on a procedural vote to advance the military and veterans spending bill on the floor, and Schumer signaled that Democrats don't want to stand in the way of advancing bipartisan spending bills that his members have worked hard on. But, there is still a number of factors outside of Schumer's control. For one, House Republicans will manage their appropriations process. Already, conservatives are laying the groundwork for a full revolt if Speaker Mike Johnson tries to move ahead with a stopgap government funding measure known as a continuing resolution rather than passing all 12 individual spending bills. And even if the House could pass the dozen bills with their tight majority, they would many are likely to be nonstarters in the Senate where Republicans need 60 votes to advance their bills. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries signaled this week that Democrats were in no mood to help Republicans pass those bills. 'It's my expectation that if Republicans tried to jam a highly partisan spending bill down the throats of the American people here in the House we'll reject it,' the New York Democrat said when asked by CNN if he would take the same tactic as last year in rejecting GOP spending bills. 'At the end of the day, Republicans control the trifecta,' Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said of the unpredictability of the next few months for the party. In March, Schumer defended his decision to vote with Republicans to keep the government open. He argued that not doing so would give Trump more power, not less. And he downplayed the divisions within his ranks even as some members openly clashed with him over his decision. But in recent weeks, Schumer has signaled he's open to preparing a number of options depending on how the spending talks unfold, and Democratic members say he has been deeply engaged for weeks on how to manage the September fight. The minority leader held an impromptu press conference last week assailing comments from Vought that the appropriations process should be more partisan going forward. On the floor, Schumer warned Republicans that any passage of a spending cuts package with just GOP votes would poison the well for the September funding talks. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat who voted against the stopgap funding bill in March, told CNN that Schumer clearly has taken lessons from the spring and carried them forward to this moment. 'I definitely know in the aftermath of that, he called all 47 of us. We were on recess the following week, he called all 47. What do you think? What should we do differently next time? I mean he's been very diligent in trying to seek advice and then also engage in significant discussions in the caucus about CRs and spending battles,' Kaine said. There are signs that some Senate Democrats – even those who were willing to vote for a stopgap measure to keep the government open last time – aren't as willing to repeat the move. A number of Democrats are also clamoring for Republicans to put in writing that any spending deal they agree to won't be reversed later with a GOP-only package to pull back funding for programs they don't like. 'I don't understand what it means to negotiate an appropriations deal with Republicans unless they have put in writing that there will be no rescissions and no impoundment,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said. But Democrats like Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who voted with Schumer to keep the government open in the Spring, warned the most important thing is that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agree that they, not the executive branch, should be making the spending calls. 'This really shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's a which branch of government are you in and what kind of oversight to you want to have over the executive?' she said. As for what Democrats learned from the spring fight, Shaheen offered one piece of guidance that she thinks Schumer is exercising now. 'I think in terms of lessons learned, I think the big lesson was we should have talked about it sooner and made it clear sooner what we thought was important to do.' In the House, some Democrats are also warning that early talk of a funding plan may help manage expectations from Democratic voters. 'A lot of people are looking for that silver bullet or that hidden stake that is going to take out Trump. Standing up on the appropriations bill is not going to be that,' Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, said. As for the GOP, many Republicans argue it's up to Democrats to decide how contentious the next eight weeks will be. 'Democrats need to decide do you want a deal? Do you want a shut down? Do you want a CR? What do you want to do? It's really not our choice,' House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole said. 'I think a shutdown is a losing game for them. They should have learned that last time, but they beat up poor Chuck Schumer when he did the right thing, kept the government open and accepted the CR.'
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fired federal workers lobby for help on Capitol Hill – is anyone listening?
The Tuesday Group was feeling something familiar as its members milled around a bank of elevators in the bustling basement of a Senate office building: rejection. They had often been told no over the past months – when the government moved to fire them with Donald Trump's blessing, when judges rejected challenges to that decision and when the lawmakers who they have taken to tracking down on Capitol Hill once a week when Congress is in session would turn a deaf ear to their pleas. More than 59,000 federal workers have lost their jobs since Trump took office, according to government data, but those in power have not changed their tune. This Tuesday morning, it was staffers of Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins who had told them no, even after they staged an impromptu sit-in in her office for the better part of a half hour. So they proceeded five floors down to the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, hoping that some senator – any senator – would give them a moment of their time. Then the elevator doors opened and who should come out but Collins. 'Senator Collins!' someone in the group yelled. Another tried to introduce themselves: 'I'm a fired federal worker.' But the senator began waving her hands in front of her in an unmistakable sign of: I don't have time for this. 'Thank you,' Collins said, as she made her way down the hall. 'It's somewhat typical,' observed Whitt Masters, a former USAID contractor who has been unemployed since the end of March, when the company employing him decided to file for bankruptcy after its client began to shut down. 'You know, I don't expect every senator to stop and speak with us. I wish she'd been a bit more approachable, especially since we had spent some time in her office earlier today.' What's been dubbed the Tuesday Group has come around the Capitol since mid-February, as Trump and Elon Musk's campaign to thin out the federal workforce began to bite. Some who show up have been fired, others are on paid leave while a judge considers whether it is legal to fire them, and those who work for USAID expect to officially lose their jobs next Tuesday, when the agency shuts down. Democrats often welcome them, but when it comes to the Republicans who control Congress – and are weighing legislation to codify some cuts and make deeper ones in the next fiscal year – the reception has been uneven. They've been ignored, blown off and belittled – all things they would experience last Tuesday, their 17th visit to the Hill. Their encounter with Collins fruitless, the group formed something of a gauntlet at the intersection of a hallway leading between office buildings and to the Senate subway, a place where lawmakers were sure to pass on a scorcher of a day. They would call out to any face they recognized, but the group of 10 was nothing a determined senator couldn't handle. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy speed-walked by with a reporter and cameraman in pursuit; Washington Democrat Patty Murray pounded past in sneakers; and Arkansas Republican John Boozman ambled through alone, displaying no sign that he knew the group was even there. 'Would you like to hear how we are impacting your constituents?' asked Stephie Duliepre, who was fired from her Science for Development fellowship program at USAID, when Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn came around the corner. The senator pushed on, the answer apparently being no. John Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, exited a stairwell that deposited him right in the middle of the group. He appeared to recognize them – on a previous visit, attendees said that Hoeven had discussed his support for folding a major USAID food assistance program into the state department. 'I see you're still working on it,' he quipped, before heading off. The Democrats they encountered uttered words of encouragement, and a few stopped to talk. 'Don't give up,' Dick Durbin of Illinois said when he encountered the group. 'I'm with you,' Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called out. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham attempted the silent treatment as he came past, but Amelia Hertzberg, who was on administrative leave from her job in the Environmental Protection Agency, was not having it. She followed him down the hall, and started prancing around to get his attention. 'You have a bright future,' Hertzberg recalls the senator saying. 'Well, I was going to have a bright future, and then I was fired,' she replied. The group spotted Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and prominent Trump ally. 'Senator Hawley, these are fired federal workers. Do you have a second to talk to them?' asked Melissa Byrne, a community organizer who had put together the group. 'No,' he replied. The group was aghast, but they'd been treated worse. When Mack Schroeder encountered Indiana Republican Jim Banks one Tuesday and introduced himself as having been fired from the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator replied, 'You probably deserved it,' before calling him 'a clown'. That was in April. The incident made the news, Banks refused to apologize, and the Tuesday Group kept showing up. 'I've spoken to the media and been on the radio. I've called my senators, my representatives, and it feels a little bit like shouting into a void,' said Hertzberg, who has made about 12 visits to the Capitol now. 'So it feels good to go into senator's offices and be there and take up space for a while and make them see, or their staff see that there is a person behind all this.'
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fired federal workers lobby for help on Capitol Hill – is anyone listening?
The Tuesday Group was feeling something familiar as its members milled around a bank of elevators in the bustling basement of a Senate office building: rejection. They had often been told no over the past months – when the government moved to fire them with Donald Trump's blessing, when judges rejected challenges to that decision and when the lawmakers who they have taken to tracking down on Capitol Hill once a week when Congress is in session would turn a deaf ear to their pleas. More than 59,000 federal workers have lost their jobs since Trump took office, according to government data, but those in power have not changed their tune. This Tuesday morning, it was staffers of Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins who had told them no, even after they staged an impromptu sit-in in her office for the better part of a half hour. So they proceeded five floors down to the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, hoping that some senator – any senator – would give them a moment of their time. Then the elevator doors opened and who should come out but Collins. 'Senator Collins!' someone in the group yelled. Another tried to introduce themselves: 'I'm a fired federal worker.' But the senator began waving her hands in front of her in an unmistakable sign of: I don't have time for this. 'Thank you,' Collins said, as she made her way down the hall. 'It's somewhat typical,' observed Whitt Masters, a former USAID contractor who has been unemployed since the end of March, when the company employing him decided to file for bankruptcy after its client began to shut down. 'You know, I don't expect every senator to stop and speak with us. I wish she'd been a bit more approachable, especially since we had spent some time in her office earlier today.' What's been dubbed the Tuesday Group has come around the Capitol since mid-February, as Trump and Elon Musk's campaign to thin out the federal workforce began to bite. Some who show up have been fired, others are on paid leave while a judge considers whether it is legal to fire them, and those who work for USAID expect to officially lose their jobs next Tuesday, when the agency shuts down. Democrats often welcome them, but when it comes to the Republicans who control Congress – and are weighing legislation to codify some cuts and make deeper ones in the next fiscal year – the reception has been uneven. They've been ignored, blown off and belittled – all things they would experience last Tuesday, their 17th visit to the Hill. Their encounter with Collins fruitless, the group formed something of a gauntlet at the intersection of a hallway leading between office buildings and to the Senate subway, a place where lawmakers were sure to pass on a scorcher of a day. They would call out to any face they recognized, but the group of 10 was nothing a determined senator couldn't handle. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy speed-walked by with a reporter and cameraman in pursuit; Washington Democrat Patty Murray pounded past in sneakers; and Arkansas Republican John Boozman ambled through alone, displaying no sign that he knew the group was even there. 'Would you like to hear how we are impacting your constituents?' asked Stephie Duliepre, who was fired from her Science for Development fellowship program at USAID, when Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn came around the corner. The senator pushed on, the answer apparently being no. John Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, exited a stairwell that deposited him right in the middle of the group. He appeared to recognize them – on a previous visit, attendees said that Hoeven had discussed his support for folding a major USAID food assistance program into the state department. 'I see you're still working on it,' he quipped, before heading off. The Democrats they encountered uttered words of encouragement, and a few stopped to talk. 'Don't give up,' Dick Durbin of Illinois said when he encountered the group. 'I'm with you,' Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called out. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham attempted the silent treatment as he came past, but Amelia Hertzberg, who was on administrative leave from her job in the Environmental Protection Agency, was not having it. She followed him down the hall, and started prancing around to get his attention. 'You have a bright future,' Hertzberg recalls the senator saying. 'Well, I was going to have a bright future, and then I was fired,' she replied. The group spotted Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and prominent Trump ally. 'Senator Hawley, these are fired federal workers. Do you have a second to talk to them?' asked Melissa Byrne, a community organizer who had put together the group. 'No,' he replied. The group was aghast, but they'd been treated worse. When Mack Schroeder encountered Indiana Republican Jim Banks one Tuesday and introduced himself as having been fired from the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator replied, 'You probably deserved it,' before calling him 'a clown'. That was in April. The incident made the news, Banks refused to apologize, and the Tuesday Group kept showing up. 'I've spoken to the media and been on the radio. I've called my senators, my representatives, and it feels a little bit like shouting into a void,' said Hertzberg, who has made about 12 visits to the Capitol now. 'So it feels good to go into senator's offices and be there and take up space for a while and make them see, or their staff see that there is a person behind all this.'
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Fired federal workers lobby for help on Capitol Hill – is anyone listening?
The Tuesday Group was feeling something familiar as its members milled around a bank of elevators in the bustling basement of a Senate office building: rejection. They had often been told no over the past months – when the government moved to fire them with Donald Trump's blessing, when judges rejected challenges to that decision and when the lawmakers who they have taken to tracking down on Capitol Hill once a week when Congress is in session would turn a deaf ear to their pleas. More than 59,000 federal workers have lost their jobs since Trump took office, according to government data, but those in power have not changed their tune. This Tuesday morning, it was staffers of Maine's Republican senator Susan Collins who had told them no, even after they staged an impromptu sit-in in her office for the better part of a half hour. So they proceeded five floors down to the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, hoping that some senator – any senator – would give them a moment of their time. Then the elevator doors opened and who should come out but Collins. 'Senator Collins!' someone in the group yelled. Another tried to introduce themselves: 'I'm a fired federal worker.' But the senator began waving her hands in front of her in an unmistakable sign of: I don't have time for this. 'Thank you,' Collins said, as she made her way down the hall. 'It's somewhat typical,' observed Whitt Masters, a former USAID contractor who has been unemployed since the end of March, when the company employing him decided to file for bankruptcy after its client began to shut down. 'You know, I don't expect every senator to stop and speak with us. I wish she'd been a bit more approachable, especially since we had spent some time in her office earlier today.' What's been dubbed the Tuesday Group has come around the Capitol since mid-February, as Trump and Elon Musk's campaign to thin out the federal workforce began to bite. Some who show up have been fired, others are on paid leave while a judge considers whether it is legal to fire them, and those who work for USAID expect to officially lose their jobs next Tuesday, when the agency shuts down. Democrats often welcome them, but when it comes to the Republicans who control Congress – and are weighing legislation to codify some cuts and make deeper ones in the next fiscal year – the reception has been uneven. They've been ignored, blown off and belittled – all things they would experience last Tuesday, their 17th visit to the Hill. Their encounter with Collins fruitless, the group formed something of a gauntlet at the intersection of a hallway leading between office buildings and to the Senate subway, a place where lawmakers were sure to pass on a scorcher of a day. They would call out to any face they recognized, but the group of 10 was nothing a determined senator couldn't handle. Montana Republican Tim Sheehy speed-walked by with a reporter and cameraman in pursuit; Washington Democrat Patty Murray pounded past in sneakers; and Arkansas Republican John Boozman ambled through alone, displaying no sign that he knew the group was even there. 'Would you like to hear how we are impacting your constituents?' asked Stephie Duliepre, who was fired from her Science for Development fellowship program at USAID, when Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn came around the corner. The senator pushed on, the answer apparently being no. John Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, exited a stairwell that deposited him right in the middle of the group. He appeared to recognize them – on a previous visit, attendees said that Hoeven had discussed his support for folding a major USAID food assistance program into the state department. 'I see you're still working on it,' he quipped, before heading off. The Democrats they encountered uttered words of encouragement, and a few stopped to talk. 'Don't give up,' Dick Durbin of Illinois said when he encountered the group. 'I'm with you,' Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin called out. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham attempted the silent treatment as he came past, but Amelia Hertzberg, who was on administrative leave from her job in the Environmental Protection Agency, was not having it. She followed him down the hall, and started prancing around to get his attention. 'You have a bright future,' Hertzberg recalls the senator saying. 'Well, I was going to have a bright future, and then I was fired,' she replied. The group spotted Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and prominent Trump ally. 'Senator Hawley, these are fired federal workers. Do you have a second to talk to them?' asked Melissa Byrne, a community organizer who had put together the group. 'No,' he replied. The group was aghast, but they'd been treated worse. When Mack Schroeder encountered Indiana Republican Jim Banks one Tuesday and introduced himself as having been fired from the Department of Health and Human Services, the senator replied, 'You probably deserved it,' before calling him 'a clown'. That was in April. The incident made the news, Banks refused to apologize, and the Tuesday Group kept showing up. 'I've spoken to the media and been on the radio. I've called my senators, my representatives, and it feels a little bit like shouting into a void,' said Hertzberg, who has made about 12 visits to the Capitol now. 'So it feels good to go into senator's offices and be there and take up space for a while and make them see, or their staff see that there is a person behind all this.'
