Schumer plays blame game as shutdown fight looms: ‘We cannot afford the brinkmanship’
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is preparing to blame House Republicans if there is a government shutdown as his focus turns to funding the government once Congress returns from its August recess.
The New York senator sent a “Dear Colleague” letter on Friday morning in which he offered praise for Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and Vice Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-ME), who passed all 12 bills to fund the government before leaving town at the end of July.
SENATE CONSIDERS MOVING SPENDING BILLS FORWARD, SETTING UP FIGHT WITH HOUSE GOP
“To avoid a harmful and unnecessary government shutdown, the House should follow the Senate’s incredible lead and pass their appropriations bills in a bipartisan way,” Schumer wrote.
“We cannot afford the brinkmanship or hostage-taking we saw from House Republicans earlier this year when they pushed our country to the brink of default to appease the most extreme members of their party,” he added.
Earlier this week, Schumer and the leaders of the Appropriations Committee made clear they are considering moving forward with bills to fund military construction and agriculture spending, according to aides involved in the effort.
Ahead of the August recess, the panel approved all 12 bills in line with the caps laid out in the debt ceiling deal negotiated by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The agreement limits overall national security spending in fiscal 2024 to $886 billion, which is roughly a 3% increase from current levels. In fiscal 2025, defense spending would be capped at $895 billion, a 1% increase from the previous year.
The looming floor action set up a clash with the GOP-led House, where many members opposed the debt ceiling deal and refused to vote for it. An influential bloc of House conservatives has sway over the spending process due to McCarthy’s narrow majority, and as a result, he and his leadership team are preparing bills with less spending than previously agreed to.
The full House managed to pass its military construction appropriations bill before leaving for recess, advancing only one of the 12 must-pass measures before leaving town until Sept. 12.
The letter from Schumer comes after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) conveyed a similar message ahead of an incident in which he froze up for about 30 seconds while speaking with the press, the second such incident this summer.
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“It’s a pretty big mess. The speaker and the president reached an agreement, which I supported in connection with raising the debt ceiling to set the spending levels for next year,” McConnell said on Wednesday.
“The House then turned around and passed spending levels that were below that level. Without saying an opinion about that, that is not going to be replicated in the Senate,” he added.