Senate Democrats have long discussed the need to avoid a government shutdown, claiming it would lead to “chaos and pain and needless heartache.”
The House on Tuesday passed a stop-gap spending bill that would avert a government shutdown for six months, or through the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
Democrats had preferred to work on a shorter-term stop-gap bill, otherwise known as a continuing resolution (CR), however, Republicans want to avoid a shutdown to focus on passing President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill to extend and expand the Trump tax cuts, secure the border, and much, much, more.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), on the Senate floor Tuesday, asked if Democrats would be willing to shut down the government:
I think the American people are going to be interested to see whether the Democrats are going to filibuster – and, by filibustering, shut down the federal government.
It is on them if this happens.
There is a funding vehicle available coming over from the House of Representatives that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year – September 30 – and we are prepared to take it up here in the Senate and make sure that, on Friday, the government stays open.
But it will be up to the Democrats as to whether or not that happens.
The focus now turns to Senate Democrats and if they would back such a short-term plan to stop a government shutdown.
Many Senate Democrats, in similar situations, have long discussed the potentially disastrous effects of a government shutdown, even if it were a short one.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in September, “Remember: Trump has spent the month urging House Republicans to shut the government down if his poison pills weren’t passed. It’s outlandishly cynical. He knows a shutdown would mean chaos and pain and needless heartache for the American people. But clearly he doesn’t care.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) last year said, ahead of a spending fight showdown, that the fact Congress has “come to the brink so many times is really embarrassing to Congress.”
“While I’m relieved this CR avoids a disastrous shutdown, funding the gov’t shouldn’t be a crisis manufactured by the GOP each year. I look forward to Congress voting on a full gov’t funding package next week, given our national security & essential gov’t operations are at stake,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wrote in mid-December 2022, right after the Senate passed a one-week bill to stop a government shutdown.
In September 2023, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) accused House Republicans of wanting to close “preschool programs” and having soldiers go unpaid by moving toward a shutdown.
“I’m glad we averted a government shutdown and passed essential disaster aid for Southwest Virginians, but Virginians deserve more than this constant chaos,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said in December. “Shutdowns aren’t victimless crimes – we need to negotiate robust, bipartisan spending bills.”
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) said a shutdown would leave “men and women in uniform working without pay, farmers without critical support, and children without the nutrition programs they rely on.”
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) in December said that shutdown threats amount to “political brinksmanship that centers politicians and not the people.”
In February 2023, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) claimed that even a partial shutdown could be disastrous.
She wrote, “Yet again, House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government. Even a partial shutdown could disrupt supply chains, hurt small businesses, risk travel delays, and increase food prices for millions of Americans. This isn’t a game. House Republicans, do your job.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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