Republicans are ramping up pressure on Senate Democrats ahead of a vote on the House-passed stopgap spending bill to keep the government open, even dubbing a potential funding lapse as a ‘Schumer shutdown.’
‘If they want to shut it down, it’s on them,’ Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told reporters. ‘That’ll be a Schumer shutdown.’
Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., recently stressed this point in an op-ed for Fox News, writing, ‘If there is a shutdown, it will be driven by and directed by the Democrats.’
Earlier in the week, House Republicans passed a short-term spending bill, called a continuing resolution (CR), which would keep spending levels the same as fiscal year 2024 until Oct. 1. If a spending bill is not passed by Friday, the government will enter into a partial shutdown.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took to the chamber floor on Wednesday and said, ‘Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR,’ which he slammed for being a ‘partisan path’ to funding the government.
The resolution would notably keep spending levels as they were when former President Joe Biden was in office.
Instead, Schumer said Senate Democrats were interested in passing a ‘clean’ monthlong stopgap bill.
This was echoed by Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who said Wednesday, ‘Those votes exist on a 30-day CR, without a doubt.’
‘If the Republicans would bring it to the floor,’ he added.
But Republicans have made it clear they want to move forward with the House-passed bill.
‘The thing that bugs me about this is, keep in mind, this same CR was voted for with these spending levels [in] September and December. So what’s the difference now?’ Mullin said.
‘These same employees that they’ve been fighting for supposedly, now they’re going to yield literally all the authority to the White House because the White House is going to be able to deem them essential and non-essential,’ he said.
Mullin said Schumer refused to bring 11 of 12 appropriations bills to the Senate floor for votes in the last Congress, despite them having been advanced out of committee. The senator further faulted Democrats for not engaging in negotiations on a spending deal until the last minute. He said Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., only recently came to the table to discuss it with Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine.
A spokesperson for Murray told Fox News Digital in a statement, ‘For months, Senator Murray has remained at the table ready to negotiate and pass bipartisan funding bills—and she stands ready to work with the Senate Republican majority to immediately pass a short-term stopgap to prevent a shutdown. In fact, she and her Democratic colleagues pressed to get government funding done in December—but Speaker Johnson chose to kick the can down the road and walk away from bipartisan talks.’
A representative for Schumer did not provide comment in time for publication.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sounded off on the potential funding lapse, saying, ‘We all know the Democrats want a shutdown.’
‘The American people agree with reducing federal spending, getting this country back on the right track. And the Democrats are so opposed to it, they’re willing to push to a shutdown. It’s all on them,’ she told reporters.
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said in a statement, ‘Republicans are doing the right thing for the American people by making sure our government stays open.’
However, ‘Democrats are sacrificing the good of hardworking Americans on the altar of their hatred for Donald Trump. They should reverse course and join Republicans in keeping the lights on in the federal government. Enough with the political games.’
Votes on beginning the process to consider the stopgap bill are expected to occur on Thursday, depending on whether Republicans and Democrats come to an agreement to skip lengthy procedural votes that are routine for most votes.