Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stepped Democrats away from the edge of a shutdown on Thursday — warning that repercussions of closing the federal government would be worse than the only viable alternative, passing the House GOP funding bill that many in Schumer’s party loathe.
Schumer’s remarks — made first during a closed-door lunch with his colleagues Thursday and then from the Senate floor in a lengthy speech — are a significant indication that enough Senate Democrats will vote to advance the House GOP bill and avoid a shutdown that would start after midnight Friday.
“It’s not really a decision. It’s a Hobson’s choice,” Schumer said on the floor. “Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This in my view is no choice at all. While the [House bill] is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.”
Schumer’s floor speech came after he privately told fellow Democrats during a closed-door lunch Thursday that he would help advance a House GOP funding bill, according to three people granted anonymity to disclose his private remarks.
The New York Democrat’s decision to come out against barreling into a shutdown comes as his party has spent days quietly agonizing over what to do after House Republicans passed their seven-month funding patch and then promptly left Washington, essentially forcing Democrats to accept a bill they don’t support and didn’t have a role in negotiating.
Schumer had said little publicly about the dilemma before his speech Thursday. But he ended up giving voice to the concerns of many in his caucus who believe that a shutdown would only empower President Donald Trump and his government-slashing ally Elon Musk.
“A shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now,” he said.
Senate Democrats held another closed-door meeting on Thursday but did not emerge with a unified strategy. A growing number of Senate Democrats vowed Thursday to oppose the House GOP bill, including not helping it get over 60-vote procedural hurdles. But some Democrats have floated that they could help advance the bill in exchange for a vote on their preferred alternative, a 30-day stopgap that would make room to restart bipartisan spending talks.
Neither Schumer nor Senate Majority Leader John Thune have indicated that they’ve reached a final agreement on proceeding to a final vote. But a person granted anonymity to describe the state of play said that discussions are ongoing.
