The US Senate has voted against two bills that would prevent the US government from shutting down at the end of the month, as Democrats dug in on demands to have a role in negotiations on funding the government.
Republicans in the House, in a mostly party-line 217-212 vote on Friday, approved a short-term spending bill that would keep the government funded at current levels for an additional seven weeks, until 21 November. House speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Republicans kept the bill "totally clean" with no partisan provisions to provide time to negotiate full-year spending bills.
But the bill almost immediately failed in the US Senate in a 44-48 vote, as Democrats refused to support a funding bill they had no role in negotiating. A separate bill backed by Senate Democrats that would include more funding for healthcare also went down in a 47-45 vote. Either measure would have required 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Republican leaders are betting that Democrats will eventually cave to keep the government funded, given the risk that they would take the blame if there is a protracted shutdown. But Democrats say they cannot support another funding bill after President Donald Trump unilaterally blocked billions of dollars of funding that was part of their previous spending bill. Democrats have pushed to add language that would limit funding clawbacks.
"By not even negotiating, by trying to make this partisan, Donald Trump and Republicans are shutting the government down," Schumer said in remarks on the floor.
After the vote, the House left for a week-long recess, and Republicans scrubbed plans to reconvene on 29-30 September. The office of House majority whip Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) said the House should be prepared to return earlier if Senate Democrats "insist" on a shutdown of the federal government that would begin after 30 September.
Trump so far has refused to negotiate, telling Republican lawmakers last week to not "even bother dealing with" Democrats. If a shutdown occurs, the Trump administration would have broad discretion in deciding which agency functions are "essential" to continue and which personnel to furlough. Trump was president during the last government shutdown, which lasted 35 days and focused on his demands for funding for a border wall.
