Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Wednesday afternoon that he would reject the House-passed government funding plan, setting up yet another showdown over federal spending. The bill, which aims to keep the government open beyond Friday’s deadline through the end of the fiscal year (September 30), was passed by the House with significant support from Republicans and a few Democrats. But Schumer made it clear—Senate Democrats won’t play ball.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input—any input—from congressional Democrats,” Schumer declared on the Senate floor. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”
Cloture—a procedural hurdle in the Senate—requires 60 votes to advance the bill past debate. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, meaning at least eight Democrats would need to cross the aisle to move the legislation forward. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has already signaled his opposition to the bill, making the math even trickier.
Senate Minority Leader John Thune (R-SD), however, isn’t backing down. On Wednesday evening, he moved to schedule a cloture vote for Friday, forcing Senate Democrats to take a clear stance.
The House-passed bill is a straightforward continuing resolution (CR) totaling just 99 pages. It largely maintains current spending levels with a few key modifications, including an additional $485 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the request of President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan. The measure also preserves funding for essential government functions—something Democrats overwhelmingly supported in December. If Republicans can hold the line and freeze spending for an entire fiscal year, it would be a major victory for fiscal conservatives.
Democrats now find themselves in a difficult position. If they reject the House-passed CR, they will be responsible for a government shutdown—a move that would furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Ironically, Democrats have spent much of Trump’s second term attacking his administration for cutting government jobs and freezing bureaucratic hiring. Shutting down the government over a budget they previously supported could severely undermine their credibility.
The Trump administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance, worked tirelessly to get the House bill passed. Now the ball is in the Senate’s court, and Democrats must decide whether they’re willing to trigger a shutdown over a fight they likely can’t win.
Rather than accept the House CR, Democrats have pushed for a short-term 30-day extension that would allow more time for negotiations on a broader omnibus spending bill. Schumer and his allies want Thune to allow a vote on their short-term CR as an amendment to the House bill, suggesting they might agree to expedited consideration if he does. However, this is highly unlikely. Any amendment would send the bill back to the House, forcing lawmakers to return to Washington—a delay Republicans have no interest in accommodating.
Democrats have also floated another amendment to prevent Trump from reallocating federal funds at his discretion through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his administration’s office dedicated to cutting waste and reducing government bloat. Again, that’s a non-starter for Republicans.
If Democrats refuse to cooperate, the earliest a CR could be passed without unanimous consent would be Saturday evening. That means a brief—but largely inconsequential—shutdown over the weekend. While the impact would be minimal, the optics for Democrats would be disastrous. Forcing a shutdown after years of railing against Trump’s budget cuts would only reinforce the perception that the party is floundering in the face of Republican leadership.
For now, Democrats are posturing as if they’re ready to go down fighting. But as the deadline looms, they may find that shutting down the government over a bill they once supported is a hill not worth dying on.
