House Democrats are raging at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for saying he would support Republicans' stopgap government funding measure despite previously saying the party wouldn't.
All but one Democrat voted against the bill this week, and many lawmakers said they would vote on a 30-day bill to allow for bipartisan negotiation on a longer one. Schumer had warned that Republicans "chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from congressional Democrats" and said they didn't have the votes to to invoke cloture on the House continuing resolution.
"Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 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, I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday," Schumer added this week.
However, as a shutdown seemed imminent, Senate Democrats backtracked, with Schumer saying on Thursday that he would support the stopgap measure. He said in a floor speech that while the Republican initiative is "very bad," a shutdown "has consequences for America that are much, much worse." "A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the state and the country," Schumer added.
The reversal outraged many House Democrats, who described their anger to different outlets.
"Complete meltdown. Complete and utter meltdown on all text chains," a senior House Democrat told Axios. He added that "people are furious" and that some are discussing ways to illustrate their anger: some floated the idea of marching onto the Senate floor, while others are discussing supporting primary challengers to senators who support the GOP bill. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among those floated to challenge Schumer in an eventual primary.
Some Democrats have also voiced their opposition publicly: "I know I speak for so many in our caucus when I say Schumer is misreading this moment. The Senate Dems must show strength and grit by voting no," said Rep. Becca Balint.
"I don't know where Schumer is coming from. ... It doesn't look good for the leader," said Rep. Steve Cohen.
In fact, House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries released a statement saying "we strongly oppose the partisan and harmful Republican spending bill." "Donald Trump and Republicans are crashing the economy. They plan to take a chainsaw to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits and public schools — all in order to give massive tax cuts to their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations. House Democrats will not be complicit," reads a passage of the message.
We strongly oppose the partisan and harmful Republican spending bill. pic.twitter.com/0AelLxkfqg
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) March 14, 2025
At least eight Democrats have to vote in favor of the bill to prevent a filibuster. Most of the opposition had to do with the fact that it lacks language to prevent the Trump administration from cutting spending that has been approved by Congress.
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