Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s decision to back the House-passed government funding measure effectively puts an end to a shutdown fight that exposed bitter partisan disputes over federal spending.
But the intra-party disputes among Hill Democrats are just getting started. The Democratic base — where most of the money and campaign support comes from — is furious, berating Schumer for helping President Donald Trump and Republicans pass a funding package that most Democrats loathe.
First, let’s run through what to expect today on Capitol Hill. Then we’ll get into the political dynamics.
The Senate will vote this afternoon to overcome a filibuster of the House’s continuing resolution, which funds federal agencies through Sept. 30. Schumer’s announcement is expected to unlock the requisite Democratic votes to help Republicans advance the funding measure.
The exact details of what will happen next are unclear. Both sides are working to secure a time agreement allowing senators to finish up before the midnight shutdown deadline and head home for a weeklong recess. Any such agreement will likely allow for some amendment votes.
Now onto Democrats. What a mess this has become.
A government-funding fight that began with Democrats demanding restrictions on Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE has ended with Democrats folding, and now sniping bitterly at each other.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team distanced themselves from Schumer’s decision — but didn’t name him — in a statement Thursday night. Other House Democrats took direct aim at Schumer, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Even Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Schumer ally, thinks it’s a big mistake.
Let’s be blunt here: Democrats picked a fight they couldn’t win and caved without getting anything in return.
We’ll also note that it’s more than five months into FY 2025 already. Even with another month of negotiation – what Democrats were asking for – it’s still not clear that they would’ve notched any policy wins.
And there’s a reason Republicans put Democrats in this position – because they know Democrats would eventually cave. And they did.
During this whole fight, Democrats never managed to put Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Trump in a tough spot. There are plenty of policies House Democrats could’ve asked for in the CR — more money for certain programs, for instance — that would’ve placed Republicans in a bind. But they never made the case publicly for anything like that.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, essentially tried to have it both ways. They spent the last few days — which included three long and contentious lunch meetings — warning each other in private about the grave dangers of forcing a government shutdown. But in front of TV cameras, they were trashing the House GOP CR and insisting they wouldn’t vote for the funding measure. This won them praise from progressives, activist groups and House Democrats.
Schumer, who didn’t take a public position until last night, fired a warning shot on Wednesday when he said Republicans didn’t have enough Democratic votes to pass the CR, basically threatening a filibuster. In the meantime, Senate Democrats pushed for a short-term CR intended to buy time for a bipartisan funding deal that was never going anywhere.
This set up the Democratic base for disappointment for seemingly no reason.
Progressives think Trump is already damaged by the often chaotic start to his second term. The stock market is slumping and public angst over his handling of the economy is growing. Progressives believed a shutdown would’ve further contributed to the appearance of an out-of-control president and forced Republicans to give in.
Yet that’s an indirect strategy at best, and it may not have worked. Progressives also had no answer to how they would end a shutdown if Trump and Republicans didn’t back down.
Let’s talk about Schumer. First, we need to acknowledge that this was a lose-lose situation for Schumer, who knew he’d get pummeled by the left for allowing the CR to pass or end up shouldering the blame for a shutdown if he held firm.
On substance, Schumer feels he did what’s required of party leaders — making tough decisions and taking the heat that comes along with that. In this case, there were Democrats in the “Vote no, hope yes” camp who Schumer was speaking for as well.
“We have to make these decisions based on what is best for not only your party, but for your country,” Schumer said. Schumer also quickly posted a NYT op-ed justifying his case.
But here’s the problem: Schumer had been making those same arguments against a shutdown for days in private. Yet he let this drag out, giving Democrats a false sense of hope that the caucus was actually going to fight.
The New York Democrat held a pen-and-pad with reporters Thursday night and defended his decision, saying a shutdown would be the worst possible outcome because it would give Trump “complete freedom” to decide which parts of the government should be funded.
“A shutdown gives Trump and his minions the keys to the city and the country,” Schumer said. “And I thought that had to be avoided.”
Schumer made the point as well that there would be no clear off-ramp from a shutdown. This is especially apt given how progressives and the party’s base were clamoring for a shutdown as a way to fight Trump.
Here’s the lesson from this episode: When you have no cards, fold them early.
