Donald Trump controls the White House. Republicans control the House of Representatives and the Senate. As the president and his administration disassemble the federal government, the shred of power Democrats still have is the Senate filibuster, which they could use on Friday to block the Republican continuing resolution to keep the government open.
They’re not going to do that, though.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made clear on Thursday that he will vote in favor of the GOP’s plan, which gives Trump and Elon Musk the power to raid congressionally appropriated taxpayer money. Schumer’s reasoning, as he outlined in an op-ed for The New York Times, is that Trump and Musk could inflict maximum damage in a shutdown, which would give them “wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs, and personnel nonessential, furloughing staff members with no promise they would ever be rehired.”
Trump is pleased. “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” he wrote Friday on Truth Social. “The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT”
Trump and Musk are already deeming whole agencies, programs, and personnel nonessential. They have fired tens of thousands of federal workers with no basis, and are plotting additional massive reductions in force. They have also moved to claw back funds appropriated by Congress, a strategy known as “impoundment,” which is a direct challenge to the power of the purse the Constitution grants to Congress. The Trump administration and Republicans have made clear that the GOP’s continuing resolution would allow the president to keep impounding funds, which is why all but one House Democrat opposed the spending bill.
Schumer’s decision to allow the measure through is not going over well — to say the least — with scores of his colleagues venting their frustration that the party’s leader is abdicating what little power the party still has by allowing Trump and Republicans to keep the government open on their own terms, and continue Trump and Musk’s slash-and-burn approach. “If you do nothing, you sit back and say it’s gonna be terrible — and that’s right, a shutdown will be terrible — but our job is to put the onus on the Republican president, the Republican House, the Republican Senate, the people who control the government,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday night on MSNBC. “They are responsible.”
Sanders is one of several Democratic senators who said on Thursday that they will vote against the Republican CR. Republicans only need the vote of seven or eight Democratic senators to get to the 60 votes they need to pass the CR, though, and it’s more than likely at least that many will follow Schumer’s lead and agree to the GOP’s terms to fund the government.
The Senate will vote for the CR on Friday after nearly every House Democrat voted against it earlier this week. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) usually present a united, establishment-approved front — but not this time. “We strongly oppose the partisan and harmful Republican spending bill,” Jeffries wrote Thursday night, noting that Trump and Republicans are “crashing the economy” while taking a “chainsaw” to social services in order to fund a tax cut for the wealthy. “We will not be complicit,” Jeffries wrote.
Jeffries’ sentiment has been echoed by the rest of the House Democratic caucus, perhaps most pointedly by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who described “deep sense of outrage and betrayal” while speaking to reporters on Thursday. She elaborated during an appearance on CNN. “The strength of our leadership in this moment is going to demonstrate the strength of our caucus,” she said. “I cannot urge enough how bad of an idea it is to empower and enable Donald Trump and Elon Musk in this moment. It is as dangerous as it is reckless.”
CNN later reported about how Ocasio-Cortez is rallying an opposition to Schumer, and that Democrats are privately encouraging her to run against Schumer to replace him in the Senate. Schumer is not up for reelection until 2028, but the indignation at Schumer’s decision is roiling across social media, as well, and in liberal advocacy groups, with Ezra Levin, the co-executive director of Indivisible, deeming it the “Schumer surrender,” per Politico.
Republicans have also been responding to the Democratic leader’s decision to greenlight the spending bill. “Schumer caved. Trump won,” the House Judiciary GOP wrote on X. “Incredible.”
