The Countdown to Senate Budget Breakdown: Chuck Schumer and the Implications for Senate Majority Leader Thune and Senate Minority Leader John Paul

Democrats huddled behind closed doors on Thursday afternoon to debate their plans in the days ahead of a crucial vote on whether to move forward on the spending bill. They have until the end of Friday to avoid a shutdown and the rapidly approaching deadline gives them few options.

Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, D- N.Y., was blamed by Senate Majority leader John Thune for creating the bind that Democrats are in.

“It’s time for Democrats to catch some fish or cut some bait,” he said in his speech. We have a few days until the government funding ends. And Democrats need to decide if they’re going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they’re going to shut down the government.”

The party’s base wants them to fight Trump and Musk’s cuts to the federal workforce, and to stop the funding bill from being passed.

Democrats say it isn’t that simple. Some worry about the unpredictable impact and length of a shutdown, and what the plan would be to get out of one. Also weighing on Democrats hoping to regain control of at least one chamber of Congress is 2026 is the political impact. Republicans control the House, Senate and White House, but Trump has a large microphone and Senate Democrats will end up determining what happens.

Schumer said on the Senate floor that funding the government should be bipartisan. Congressional Democrats were not given any input on the continuing resolution drafted by Republicans. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”

Senate Republicans will see at least one defection because Kentucky GOP Sen. “I will vote no on the plan if it can codify the cuts led by Musk,” Paul said last week.

So far only one Senate Democrat, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has said publicly he would vote with the GOP to approve the CR. Fetterman said he will not vote for chaos if there is a government shutdown.

Schumer instead called for a four-week stopgap measure on Wednesday, which would keep agencies funded at current levels through April 11 as both parties negotiate on the annual spending bills.

The Democrat’s Proposal: Stop the Government Down, Spike the Country, or Let the Government Go, or Do We Have the Right NOW”

He didn’t expect the Democrats’ proposal would be passed, but he was open to giving them an opportunity to vote. He said he had not heard any offer from Democrats yet.

If they want to vote on that in order to get the votes to pass to September 30 I think we’re open to that. The House is gone, so whatever happens, will have to be the final action according to Thune.

Two Senate Democrats are up for re- election in 2020 and they said they would vote no on the short term bill. And although Schumer signaled his caucus was united, not all Democrats agree.

“Shut the government down, plunge the country into chaos, risk a recession or Exchange cloture for a 30 day CR that 100% fails,” he said Thursday on social media platform X. “Total theater is neither honest with constituents nor a winning argument.”

Both Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego went public with their opposition to the funding bill through September because they were worried about the impact of the stopgap.

House Democrats remained united in their opposition to the plan, and many took to social media to urge their Senate counterparts to do the same.

“I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal and this is not just progressive Democrats — this is across the board, the entire party,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters Thursday night at a party retreat in Leesburg, Va.

The House Democrats began their annual retreat worried about how their Senate counterparts could vote on a GOP spending bill that all but one of them voted against. The vote was seen as a moment of solidarity by many Democrats, and they hoped that senators would follow suit.

Jayapal, the former Chair of the Progressive Caucus, warned that the vote is about more than just this spending bill. “If we give in on this, we’re going to give in on a whole bunch of things,” she said.

“Voting against the CR after you vote to allow the bill on the floor is what I think they are trying to be too smart in doing,” said Morelle. I think this just gives the Republicans a license to dismantle the government. They now have the acquiescence of Senate Democrats.”

She added there’s time to “correct course” and that she and her colleagues are calling and texting senators to implore them not to support the cloture vote slated for Friday morning.

“A shutdown is not inevitable,” she said. “We can pass a 30-day clean extension to allow Republicans to negotiate with Democrats in order for us to have a functioning government.”

It’s not a bad time to have clarity and purpose. This is a time to be decisive about what you’re going to do,” New Mexico Rep. Gabe Vasquez told NPR Thursday before Schumer spoke.

“Show the American people that we’re going to stand up and fight for them in one of the very few opportunities that Democrats have to gain leverage over this administration.”

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader from NY, and his top deputy’s released a statement saying that the GOP bill will “unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to dismantle the federal government.”

Jeffries, along with whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., wrote that their caucus stands ready to vote for a four-week continuing resolution that brings parties back to the negotiating table.