Schumer now says Democrats will support Republican funding bill to avoid shutdown

Old_Joe

This report is being placed in "Other Investing" because the situation described has potentially serious impact on many aspects of the American economy.

Following are excerpts from a current report from The Guardian:

Schumer: Democrats will not support 'partisan' funding bill passed by House Republicans to avert shutdown

Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority’s leader, said this afternoon that Democrats will not provide the necessary votes to adopt the stopgap funding bill passed by House Republicans, which includes cuts to vital services and programs.

Senate rules mean that 60 votes are needed to move legislation forward, and Republicans only have 53 seats – and 52 votes, given Rand Paul’s stated opposition to to the House bill.

Here are Schumer’s remarks:

"Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort. But Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their Continuing Resolution without any input, any input, from Congressional Democrats.

Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.

Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11th CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass. We should vote on that.

I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday."

And this from The Washington Post-

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said on the Senate floor Wednesday that not enough Democrats support the Republican-led funding measure that passed the House on Tuesday. With days to go until a shutdown deadline, Democrats are seeking a bill — known as a continuing resolution, or CR — to keep the government open through April 11 while the two parties complete work on their long-stalled spending bills. “Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR,” Schumer said.

PRESSmUP

Mike Johnson had his members flee Washington after passing the bill in the House, preventing any changes prior to shutdown.

The Senate must reject this rancid budget bill.

Old_Joe

Following are excerpts from a new report by The Guardian:

In remarks on the Senate floor, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader, just indicated that he and other Democrats will vote for the continuing resolution passed by House Republicans, without Democratic input, to avoid a government shutdown.

“Republicans’ nihilism has brought us to the brink of disaster,” Schumer said. “The most vulnerable Americans”, he added, would suffer most from a government shutdown.

Schumer condemned the Republicans for refusing to work together on a funding bill, but said that: “It’s not really a decision. It’s a Hobson’s choice.”

“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said. “For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR. It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”

“A shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now,” he added.

“I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country to minimize the harms to the American people”, Schumer said. “Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down.”

WABAC

It would have been a lot easier for Musk to wreak havoc if the government was shut down.

Sven

This country will be in bad shape when mid-term comes around in 2026.

BaluBalu

Did Schumer really not know that yesterday?

I hope he is happy with his ability to add to societal uncertainty and market volatility. Not sure what he accomplished, except fund raising in the last 24 hours. In after hours, Markets closed higher nearly 1% in some sectors and nominally in the defensive sectors but all sectors higher.

This is why duopolies are bad but I digress. They each take turns to screw us.

Old_Joe

Here are edited excerpts from a statement by Senator Schumer as reported in The New York Times:

Trump and Musk Would Love a Shutdown. We Must Not Give Them One

Over the past two months, the United States has confronted a bitter truth: President Trump has taken a blowtorch to our country and wielded chaos like a weapon.

Most Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have caved to his every whim. The Grand Old Party has devolved into a crowd of Trump sycophants and MAGA radicals who seem to want to burn everything to the ground.

As I have said many times, there are no winners in a government shutdown. But there are certainly victims. This week Democrats offered a way out: Fund the government for another month to give appropriators more time to do their jobs. Republicans rejected this proposal.

That leads Democrats to a difficult decision: Either proceed with the bill before us or risk Mr. Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my view, is no choice at all.

For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address this country’s needs. But even if the White House says differently, Mr. Trump and Elon Musk want a shutdown. We should not give them one. The risk of allowing the president to take even more power via a government shutdown is a much worse path.

To be clear: No one on my side of the aisle wants a government shutdown. Members who support this continuing resolution do not want that. Members who oppose it do not want that. As bad as passing the continuing resolution would be, I believe a government shutdown is far worse.

First, a shutdown would give Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk permission to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now. Under a shutdown, the Trump administration would have wide-ranging authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential, furloughing staff members with no promise they would ever be rehired.

Second, In a protracted shutdown, House and Senate Republicans could bring bills to the floor to reopen only their favored departments and agencies while leaving other vital services that they don’t like to languish.

Third, shutdowns mean real pain for American families. For example, a shutdown could cause regional Veterans Affairs offices to reduce even more of their staffs, further delay benefits processing and curtail mental health services — abandoning veterans who earned, and depend on, those resources.

A shutdown could continue to slash the administrative staffs at Social Security offices — delaying applications and benefit adjustments and forcing seniors to wait even longer for their benefits.

A shutdown could further stall federal court cases and furlough critical staff members — denying victims and defendants alike their day in court, dragging out appeals and clogging the justice system for months or years.

Finally, a shutdown would be the best distraction Donald Trump could ask for from his awful agenda. Right now, Mr. Trump owns the chaos in the government. He owns the chaos in the stock market. He owns the damage happening to our economy. The stock market is falling, and consumer confidence is plummeting.

In a shutdown, we would be busy fighting with Republicans over which agencies to reopen and which to keep closed instead of debating the damage Mr. Trump’s agenda is causing.

I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country, to minimize the harms to the American people. Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open.

rforno

I loathe Schumer as a messenger but he made a great point this evening that if the government shuts down, so would the courts, which would leave us defenseless against the GQP assault on America.

Admittedly, I did not think of that, but that makes a lot of sense even if it's the lesser of 2 evils.

Old_Joe

"Admittedly, I did not think of that"

Yes, same here.

Crash

Schumer is a scum-hole useless pig-fart slime-bag. And he is the best Senator Israel has on Capitol Hill. Useless suck-bag scuzz bucket.

rforno

People are already nudging an absolutely *livid* AOC to run for his seat in the Senate at the Dem retreat this week.

Frankly, she's done a fair bit of growing up in recent years and 'calmed down' in some ways from when she first landed on the Hill as a 'novelty' ... she also tends to make more sense in her remarks/speeches now that she's seen how this town works and is much better informed, imho.

I'm not a New York resident but I'd certainly endorse that idea.

BaluBalu

Anyone residing anywhere can donate to a politician from any State.

I do not donate to politicians but I will send AOC money if she runs against Schumer. On his performance in the past 48 hours alone, he must go.

JD_co

It would have been nice if Schumer had led his flipped positioning with the "not shutting down the courts, leaving us defenseless against MAGA" commentary. Its a valid point.

Poor communications.

Even so, something there still seems a bit off.

Sven

The worst part is the extension of tax cut for the wealthy and raise the debt limit. So much for being the fiscal “conservative” party as the federal deficit continues to rise.

BaluBalu

The stop gap funding bill does not include tax cuts which do not expire until the end of the year.

Our ability to get easily distracted, not to mention our eagerness to make excuses for them, is how politicians own our ass.

larryB

At crash. You sure have Israel on the brain.

BaluBalu

All of a sudden I see a lot of posts and media coverage about tax cuts. Not sure who is following whom: media and people. But always a few steps behind the political and business leaders. You want to play your leaders’ game, play the long game.

In any case, an FYI, tax cuts can be enacted in 2026 or even in 2027 and applied retroactively to 2026. GOP are not going to screw up their mid term prospects just to get the tax cuts enacted sooner than later.