The Senate rejected competing measures on Friday to fund federal agencies for a few weeks when the new budget year begins on Oct. 1, increasing prospects for a partial government shutdown on that date.
Leaders of the two parties sought to blame the other side for the standoff. Democrats accused Republicans of not negotiating with them to address some of their priorities on health care as part of the funding measure, even though they knew some Democratic votes would be needed to get a bill to the president's desk.
Republicans said Democrats were making demands that would dramatically increase spending and were not germane to the core issue of keeping agencies fully running for a short period of time while negotiations continued on a full-year spending measure.
“The Republican bill is a clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government to give us time to do the full appropriations process. And the Democrat bill is the exact opposite," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said shortly before the votes. “It’s what you might call, not a clean CR, a dirty CR – laden down with partisan policies and appeals to Democrats’ leftist base.”
The Democratic proposal would extend enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, plus reverse Medicaid cuts that were included in Republicans’ big tax breaks and spending cuts bill enacted earlier this year.
“The American people will look at what Republicans are doing, look at what Democrats are doing, and it will be clear that public sentiment will be on our side,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, who has repeatedly threatened a shutdown if health care isn’t addressed.
The Senate action came after the House earlier in the day passed the Republican-led funding bill. The measure would extend government funding generally at current levels for seven weeks. The bill would also add about $88 million in security funding for lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court and executive branch in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The vote was 217-212. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the lone Democratic member to support the bill.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said he knew he had few votes to spare as he sought to persuade fellow Republicans to vote for the funding patch, something many in his conference have routinely opposed in past budget fights. But this time, GOP members see a chance to portray the Democrats as responsible for a shutdown.
"The ball is in Chuck Schumer’s court. I hope he does the right thing. I hope he does not choose to shut the government down and inflict pain on the American people,” Johnson said.
President Donald Trump had urged House Republicans to pass the bill and put the burden on Democrats to oppose it. GOP leaders often need Trump’s help to win over holdouts on legislation.
“Every House Republican should UNIFY, and VOTE YES!” Trump said on his social media site.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that in opposing the continuing resolution, Democrats were working to protect the health care of the American people. He said that with Republicans controlling the White House and both branches of Congress, “Republicans will own a government shutdown. Period. Full stop."
The Senate moved quickly after the House vote to take up the measure plus the Democratic counter. Both fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage. Now, it's unclear how things will shake out.
Senators could then potentially leave town until Sept. 29 — one day before the shutdown deadline. The Senate has a scheduled recess next week because of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. Meanwhile, Johnson said Republicans were discussing whether to stay back in their home districts through the rest of September, essentially forcing the Senate to approve the House-passed measure or risk a shutdown. He said lawmakers have a lot of work to do in their districts.
Democrats on both sides of the Capitol are watching Schumer closely after his last-minute decision in March to vote with Republicans to keep the government open. Schumer argued then that a shutdown would be damaging and would give Trump and his White House freedom to make more government cuts. Many on the left revolted, with some advocates calling for his resignation.
The vote in the spring also caused a temporary schism with Jeffries, who opposed that particular GOP spending bill and said he would not be “complicit” with Schumer’s vote.
The two Democratic leaders now say they are united, and Schumer says things have changed since March. The public is more wary of Trump and Republicans, Schumer says, after the passage of Medicaid cuts.
Most Democrats appear to be backing Schumer's demand that there be negotiations on the bill — and support his threats of a shutdown, even as it is unclear how they would get out of it.
“Look, the president said really boldly, don’t even talk to Democrats. Unless he’s forgotten that you need a supermajority to pass a budget in the Senate, that’s obviously his signal he wants a shutdown,” said Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
While the Democratic measure to fund the government had no chance of passage, it does give Democrats a way to show voters their focus on cutting health care costs. Unless Congress act, tax credits going to low- and middle-income people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act will expire. That will mean a big increase in premiums for millions of Americans.
“There are some thing we have to address. The health insurance, ACA, is going to hammer millions of people in the country, including in red states,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine. “To me, that can’t be put off.”
Republicans have said the tax credit issue can be dealt with later this year. They're also using Schumer's previous arguments against shutdowns to make the case he's playing politics.
“Democrats voted in favor of clean CRs no fewer than 13 times during the Biden administration,” Thune said. “Yet now that Republicans are offering a clean CR, it’s somehow a no-go. It’s funny how that happens.”
