Senate Democrats are considering their next move after the House narrowly passed a stopgap measure to keep the government funded through September, with a fast-approaching Friday deadline to avert a possible government shutdown.
House Republicans approved the six-month funding measure with the support of just one Democrat on Tuesday. The bill, known as a continuing resolution, increases defense spending and funding for veterans’ health care, while decreasing non-defense spending below 2024 levels. It also includes more funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
With the House passage, the measure now heads to the Senate, where Republicans, with a 53-seat majority, need support from Democrats to reach a 60-vote threshold to propel the measure to passage.
Funding the government is usually a bipartisan effort. But Democrats widely oppose the measure, warning that it would give the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency even more latitude to carry out cost-slashing efforts, while expressing frustration with the spending reductions.
But Democrats aren’t generally inclined to let the government shut down, either. And the House opted to cancel votes Wednesday and leave town, likely preventing the Senate from making any changes to the continuing resolution before Friday’s deadline.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has also pledged to oppose the measure, making support from at least eight Democrats necessary to pass the measure and send it to the president’s desk. That Democratic support could come from senators who represent states that President Trump won in November, who face added pressure to work across party lines.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, told CBS News on Tuesday that he hadn’t made a decision on whether to support the continuing resolution, and said he’s working to determine “what’s the best for Arizona.” And Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, outlined the difficult choice for Democrats, who he said are “choosing between awful and terrible.”
“I think this bill is bad, I think a government shutdown is bad,” Warnock said.
Senate Democrats are expected to meet Wednesday to discuss the path forward. Leaving a caucus meeting ahead of the House vote Tuesday, senators were tight-lipped about how they planned to proceed. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t weigh in on his caucus’ stance, saying members would “wait and see what the House does first.”
Democrats have signaled in recent days that they would prefer a shorter-term funding measure that would give appropriators more time to flesh out new spending bills. On Monday, the top Democratic appropriators, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, introduced a continuing resolution that would fund the government through April 11.
Still, Democrats have limited leverage in the funding fight. And Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed opposition to the short-term continuing resolution Tuesday, saying it continues to “punt the problem down the road.”
“At this point there’s really one solution on the table,” Thune said, noting that the House-passed stopgap measure keeps the government open and addresses core issues. “We think it represents the best solution at the moment.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson notched a major win when he kept his conference almost entirely united behind the counting resolution on Tuesday. He said at a news conference after the vote that he’s hopeful Democrats will join Republicans to prevent a possible shutdown at week’s end.
“I certainly hope that there are enough Democrats in the Senate who have a conscience who will do the right thing by the American people and take care of business over there,” the speaker said.