Things just got real for Democrats and their plan to leverage government funding into resistance against President Donald Trump and his policies.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Friday morning passed a bill to fund the government into November, strengthening their hand in the coming showdown over spending in the Senate
Now it will be up to Senate Democrats whether the bill goes to Trump’s desk or the government partially shuts down at the end of the month. Democrats proposed their own draft that would fund the government and also address the rising cost of health care, but it was immediately shot down by Republicans, ratcheting up fears the government will plunge into a shutdown. Both the House bill and the Democrats’ Senate bill failed in test votes on Friday afternoon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has insisted Republicans negotiate on a funding plan that includes an extension of Obamacare health insurance subsidies set to expire in December and a rollback of Medicaid cuts enacted as part of Republicans’ tax cut bill this year.
He has also suggested that Democrats wouldn’t be blamed if there is a shutdown on Sept. 30, citing the GOP’s unwillingness to enter into bipartisan talks.
“The public is on our side. Public sentiment is everything,” Schumer argued on Thursday.
Altogether, 15 million fewer people will have health insurance by 2034 as a result of the Medicaid cuts and the lapse of the subsidies, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The House passed the funding bill by a vote of 217 to 212, with Republicans Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) voting no and Democrat Jared Golden (Maine) voting yes.
In a speech Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said: “We have heard all year how Republicans have a mandate, how Republicans have the presidency, how Republicans control the House, how Republicans control the Senate. Well, if that’s the case … Republicans will own a government shutdown, period. Full stop. It’s the Republican shutdown.”
Republicans control 53 Senate seats, and 60 votes are needed to push the funding bill through the chamber. But Republicans have ignored Democrats’ demands, betting enough of them will fold and support the bill or that the public will blame them for a shutdown.
The progressive wing has urged Democrats to use government funding as leverage. Many were furious when Democrats voted for a government funding bill in March, as billionaire Elon Musk ripped through federal agencies and laid off workers.
Here’s how Andrew O’Neill, director of advocacy for the progressive group Indivisible, reacted to Democrats’ unveiling of a competing funding bill with health care policies this week: “About damn time we’re seeing some fight from Democrats!”
It’s not clear what the endgame is for Democrats in this fight, however. Republicans are confident the public will blame Democrats for a shutdown. Usually, it’s Republicans, not Democrats, who demand concessions for supporting a short-term funding bill. And in previous shutdowns, it’s Republicans who have taken the blame.
The Senate is leaving town for a previously scheduled recess in honor of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah and will return shortly before the Sept. 30 funding deadline.
The House, meanwhile, has canceled votes until the end of the month, putting maximum pressure on Senate Democrats to swallow its funding bill.
“I understand that Democrats’ far-left base is desperate to pick a fight with President Trump, but really, I don’t think Democrats are going to win the next election by shutting down the government over a short-term, clean, nonpartisan funding measure,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) warned this week.