Senate Democrats are attempting to redefine the GOP’s short-term government funding plan as a partisan proposal as the party evolves its messaging strategy on a brewing shutdown feud.
They say a Republican bill to extend current spending levels past a Sept. 30 deadline cannot be branded as a “clean” stopgap measure because it lacks input and healthcare policy demands from Democrats, diverging from long-standing norms in Congress over government funding showdowns as they flex their filibuster leverage.
A “clean” short-term bill “usually means whether or not you had an agreement between the political parties,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), who’s set to become the second-ranked Democrat in the next Congress. “Donald Trump said he doesn’t want to work with us.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) acknowledged the proposal is a “status quo bill,” in line with messaging from Democrats on more than a dozen similar Biden-era stopgap funding measures. But he made the case that “Americans don’t want the status quo.”
“‘Clean’ is the wrong word. It’s a partisan bill,” Schumer said. “It has had no input from Democrats.”
House Republicans are set to vote this week on the GOP’s short-term proposal, followed by the Senate. It would fund the government through Nov. 21 and is designed to offer appropriators more time to reach a bipartisan, year-long budget, but will need Democratic buy-in to clear the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster.
Roughly $90 million for additional security is included for lawmakers, the Supreme Court, and other government officials in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, which is backed by both sides of the aisle, as well as the repeal of restrictions on Washington, D.C., to spend its own money. Still, it’s otherwise in line with so-called “clean” continuing resolution (CR) stopgap measures from years past and does not include partisan riders to make it “dirty.”
Rather than point to any provisions they reject, Democrats cite the exclusion of extending a Biden-era policy as the basis for their opposition: enhanced Obamacare subsidies set to expire at year’s end. Republicans are offering Democrats to negotiate the terms of a modified extension after the impending shutdown cliff is averted.
“I do not think it’s likely that mainstream voters, the same voters that Democrats lost in the last election, are going to be thanking Democrats for shutting down the government over a short-term, clean, nonpartisan CR,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said.
Democrats, buoyed by the filibuster and new polling that suggests the party’s base is itching for a protracted shutdown showdown, are prepared to make that bet. It’s a huge political gamble, particularly after Democrats caved in March to avoid a shutdown, and runs counter to conventional wisdom that the party responsible for a shutdown emerges on the losing political end, and absent any significant policy wins.
SHUTDOWN BATTLE PRESENTS SCHUMER WITH LATEST DEMOCRATIC UNITY TEST
A large majority, 72%, of Democratic voters want the party to “take a firmer stand this time, even if it risks a government shutdown,” according to a survey from liberal firms Data for Progress and Grow Progress. Roughly the same number, 70%, want Democrats to “withhold their votes unless Republicans agree to changes, even if that risks a government shutdown.”
“This is a inflection point, and we should be working to do everything we can to help Americans and use this point of leverage,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said. “As much as the president thinks he can bully and threaten his way to it, you need Democratic votes.”