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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Government shutdown fears intensify as Democrats stiffen resolve to
block GOP spending bill
By Manu Raju, Sarah Ferris, CNN
Updated:
2:43 PM EDT, Wed September 17, 2025
Source: CNN
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made a major calculation in March:
He voted to keep the government open and convinced enough Democrats to
go along with him – and endured furious blowback from the left.
This time, he says, things have changed.
“The situation is much different,” Schumer said.
But the circumstances are the same. President Donald Trump and GOP
leaders need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats to break a
filibuster to keep the government open past September 30. To entice
Schumer, they’re advancing a straight extension of government funding
until November 21 – without poison pills – and including to bolster
security measures for lawmakers themselves.
Yet Schumer and Democratic leaders say the actions taken by Trump and
the GOP-led Congress require a hardened approach – that they must
withhold their votes until Republicans reverse some of their most
controversial actions, like Medicaid cuts in Trump’s massive domestic
policy law and the president’s moves to spending powers.
And Schumer wants to make clear there’s no daylight between him and
his House counterpart, Hakeem Jeffries, after their split during the
spring spending fight sent their party reeling for weeks and led to
progressive fury against the Senate Democratic leader.
This time, Democrats are digging in — and Republicans are showing no
signs of giving in.
“The vibes are bad,” said Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, who is poised
to become Schumer’s new top deputy and who voted with Republicans in
March to keep the government open. His mindset seems to have shifted
since then, too, telling reporters: “Donald Trump made it explicit
that he doesn’t want to work with Democrats, and so I wish him the
best.”
Speaker Mike Johnson plans to take the first step later this week by
putting the stopgap bill on the House floor, though he may need a
handful of Democrats to push the bill through his chamber given the
opposition from some of his conservative rank-and-file. If it passes
the House, then Schumer and Senate Democrats are signaling they’re
ready to filibuster it.
Asked how he would handle the next step if Schumer blocks their
continuing resolution, known as a CR, Senate Majority Leader John Thune
predicted there would be a shutdown.
“It’s a clean CR,” an exasperated Thune told CNN. “What’s
plan B? You tell me.”
Schumer, who contends Republicans are in a “much weaker” political
position now than they were in the spring because of public disapproval
over Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts bill, claimed that
Democrats are “unified” now to make the battle focused on the
future of Obamacare and other health programs.
It’s uncertain if Schumer, however, will maintain that position
through any funding lapse, if hundreds of thousands of federal
employees from TSA workers to food inspectors are forced to work
without pay with Trump using his platforms to hammer Democrats.
And unless party leaders can find a way to resolve the bitter
stalemate, Congress could be careening toward its first major funding
lapse in six years. And this one — since it would involve a total
government funding lapse, not just certain agencies — could be far
more painful for an already battered federal work force.
Republicans insist Democrats are staging the theatrics to prove to
their base that they’re fighting Trump. They argue that the GOP’s
bill would actually fund the government at levels set by former
President Joe Biden that Democrats have already supported.
“There’s nothing in the legislation they object to, not a single
thing,” said Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican who chairs the
House Appropriations Committee. “Why would you vote no and shut down
the government so you can have something else that’s unrelated?”
Cole added: “It’s irrational. I think this is more about politics.
I think it’s about throwing a temper tantrum to sort of show you’re
fighting.”
Democrats say the onus is on the GOP.
“Donald Trump controls the White House. He controls the House and he
controls the Senate. The responsibility is on him,” Sen. Cory Booker,
who sits on Schumer’s leadership team, said Tuesday. “I’m not
going to give away my vote to a bill that’s going to hurt people
more.”
One of the Democrats’ demands is already generating fierce anger
among conservative hardliners — to push to extend enhanced Obamacare
subsidies for roughly 22 million Americans that are set to expire at
the end of 2025. And it’s the latest sign of how tough it could be
for party leaders to reach any agreement to end the standoff.
While failing to extend those subsidies could lead to voter anger with
millions paying more for health care, many conservatives are opposed to
the plan because they say it’s an expensive government handout.
“That is not OK with me. That is a big red line,” Rep. Lauren
Boebert of Colorado told CNN when asked about extending Obamacare
subsidies, predicting that it would not pass the House.
“That’s a Democrat priority – that’s a deal with Democrats,”
said Rep. Warren Davidson, a conservative Republican from Ohio.
Republican leaders insist that Democrats need to accept their current
plan, which includes status-quo funding through late November – just
before Congress’ Thanksgiving recess – to keep the government open.
Senior Republicans in both chambers — as well as key figures in
Trump’s White House — are open to a deal that would overhaul the
Obamacare subsidies, but they say it should not be done as part of a
short-term funding deal.
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the House conservatives who
typically loathe these types of stopgap funding bills, made a private
pitch to House Republicans on Tuesday morning to support the bill for
Trump’s agenda, calling it a “common sense” move.
“What are the Democrats going to do, not vote for what they’ve
voted for before? C’mon. That’s ridiculous,” Jordan told CNN.
“I’m hopeful that they’ll come to their senses, and there’ll be
enough Democrats out there who consider Senator Schumer’s advice —
which I think he’s getting from online trolls and activist groups,
which he shouldn’t be listening to — that they’ll conclude that
that’s really bad advice, and work with us to keep the government
open,” Thune said. “My office is right here, Chuck’s is right
here, it’s very easy for him to come here.”
Shutdown messaging war
Jeffries and House Democrats are expected to almost unanimously oppose
the House GOP’s funding plan during the vote later this week – with
few defections expected from their side, according to multiple people
close to leadership. Johnson, meanwhile, believes he will be able to
deliver the votes for the spending plan that much of his conference
despises, with help from Trump.
If it passes, the bill would then head to the Senate by week’s end,
where so far, only one Democrat – Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
– has said he will buck his party to back the GOP funding bill.
“I can’t put our entire economy at hostage for all those things
because then that’s very dangerous,” Fetterman said Tuesday. “I
do not believe that our nation needs a huge, gigantic injection of
chaos of shutting down our government in the middle of especially in
the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
Fetterman warned Democrats that shutting down the government would be
akin to “
Fetterman aside, Democrats believe their party will win the messaging
war over a shutdown.
In a private meeting Tuesday, Jeffries told his members that Democrats
are intentionally focused publicly on health care, including the
Obamacare tax credits, because they have to set themselves up to win
the public debate, according to a person in the room. And he added,
another person in the room said, if House Democrats didn’t support
the GOP’s same funding plan in March – when Schumer ultimately
relented – why would Democrats support it now?
Publicly and privately, Jeffries and Schumer are much more closely
aligned in strategy than the spring.
Jeffries, who was stunned six months ago as Schumer reversed course and
backed a GOP bill that his own caucus opposed, said he had confidence
in Senate Democrats this time. Asked if he believed Schumer would block
the GOP’s funding bill, Jeffries said simply: “Yes.”
Democrats to go on offense with health care events
Top Democrats are urging their members to go on offense in the
messaging war.
House and Senate Democrats are staging a series of health care-focused
events around the country next week to amplify their message ahead of
the September 30 deadline, according to a notice sent to members on
Wednesday.
Democratic leaders will hold a “Health Care Costs Week of Action”
when members are back in their districts for the Jewish holidays —
offering a glimpse at the party’s emerging strategy in the shutdown
messaging war.
Those plans were discussed at a private meeting of House Democrats on
Wednesday. In the same meeting, members were shown a series of internal
polls that showed voters would blame Republicans for a funding lapse,
according to copies of those slides reviewed by CNN. It also showed
that voters overwhelmingly supported extending the Obamacare tax
credits that Democrats are currently making a big part of their funding
demand for Republicans.
“We are fighting to protect Americans from a Republican created
health care crisis,” House Democratic leaders wrote to their members
on Wednesday.
“Republicans have total control of the government, and Democrats will
not rubber stamp a Republican budget that continues to cut health care
and raise prices.”
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