Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown Friday, mere hours before the deadline, as the Senate approved a spending bill that had already cleared the House. However, the passage of this stopgap measure revealed deep fractures within the Democratic Party.
The legislation, designed to keep the government funded into the fall, now awaits the signature of President Donald Trump, who is expected to approve it.
Senate Democrats faced mounting pressure to reject the Trump-backed bill, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with other Democrats who facilitated its passage, is now facing backlash from within his party.
The internal discord became increasingly apparent as lawmakers raced against the clock to prevent a shutdown that could have had significant consequences across federal agencies. The episode underscored the Democrats’ ongoing struggle to counter Trump and the Republican dominance in Washington.
Roughly 90 minutes before Senate Republicans averted the shutdown in a near party-line vote, Schumer and nine other Democrats crossed the aisle to advance the bill in a critical procedural vote. Despite mounting pressure from within their caucus to block it entirely, the bill required only a simple majority to pass, and nearly all Democrats who had initially supported the procedural step ultimately voted against it in the final tally.
Schumer defended his decision, arguing that the Democrats faced an impossible dilemma: either shut down the government for an indefinite period to challenge Trump or accept a Republican bill that they believed would slash spending on programs such as veterans’ health care and public services in Washington, DC.
“I believe it is the best way to minimize the harm that the Trump administration will do to the American people,” Schumer stated, explaining his reasoning for enabling the bill’s passage.
“Clearly, this is a Hobson’s choice. The CR is a bad bill, but as bad as the CR is, I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he continued.
Trump, in turn, praised Schumer for his stance, telling reporters after the vote, “I appreciate Senator Schumer, and I think he did the right thing, really. I’m very impressed by that.”
Despite Schumer’s efforts, discontent within the Democratic Party was palpable. Many Senate and House Democrats viewed the move as a concession, squandering a crucial opportunity to exert leverage against Trump in his second term.
Democrats across the country closely followed the procedural vote, seeing it as a key test of their party’s resolve in standing up to the president.
In the end, the Senate passed the stopgap bill in a 54-46 vote, securing government funding through September 30. Among Democrats, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with the party, supported the measure. The only Republican to vote against it was Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
“Once I had voted for cloture, it was an opportunity to pass the bill, and I thought it was more honest to vote for it,” Shaheen told CNN. She added, “I thought, much as I didn’t like the CR, I thought a government shutdown would be worse and would give Trump and Elon Musk and the DOGE operation more of an opportunity to fire people, to shut down agencies and to close the work of the government.”
Following the passage of the stopgap measure, the Senate also approved a separate bill to allow Washington, DC, to maintain control over its funds. This move came after Democrats warned that the Republican funding plan would cut $1.1 billion from the city’s budget. The House must now approve this measure, but its fate remains uncertain.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other prominent Democrats had urged voters to pressure senators into blocking the bill and taking a stand against Trump’s attempts to dismantle federal agencies. Many within the party now believe Schumer failed this test.
The fallout from Schumer’s decision has reverberated throughout the Democratic Party, with critics emerging from various factions. However, no senators have publicly declared their intention to challenge his leadership.
Earlier in the week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries led an aggressive effort to whip votes against the bill. In the end, House Democrats lost only one member to the opposing side, but their efforts were insufficient to prevent the bill from passing in the House on Tuesday.
Jeffries declined to comment on whether he had lost confidence in Schumer due to their differing stances on the funding issue. When asked about it on Friday, he simply responded, “Next question.”
Democrats Reflect on Next Steps
In the aftermath of the vote, Senate Democrats are now grappling with how to move forward as a unified caucus, given the internal divisions exposed by the spending bill.
Schumer told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday evening that he had anticipated disagreements within his party but maintained that a government shutdown would have been the worse outcome.
“My job as leader is to lead the party and if there’s going to be danger in the near future, to protect the party. And I’m proud I did it, I knew I did the right thing, and I knew there would be some disagreements. That’s how it always is,” he said.
Schumer also defended his leadership position, asserting, “My caucus and I are in sync.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, refrained from commenting on whether the party needed new leadership, telling reporters, “That’s a conversation for inside the caucus. I’m not going to debate that out here.”
“I think that Leader Schumer has been very effective in a lot of battles, but we also need to — these are new times, and we need to all come together. And so, you know, second guessing Leader Schumer out here isn’t going to accomplish the kind of community that we’re going to need to be able to stand up to the president. So, we’ll have that conversation inside caucus,” Heinrich added.
Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed confidence in Schumer but acknowledged that the caucus had endured a turbulent week.
“I voted no on the CR. I heard that overwhelmingly from folks, and again, recognizing I got tons of federal workers. But I have total respect for the folks who reached another conclusion, and the idea that they would have had a shutdown that would have put us into the abyss with, unfortunately, parts of this administration, doesn’t follow the law,” Warner said.
He further emphasized the need for a broader vision for the party, stating, “I think the Democrats need to have a pro-growth agenda that recognizes fairness, and that is, frankly, not the debate though, that we just took place. That we just took place, it was two awful choices.”
As the Democratic Party regroups following this divisive episode, the long-term implications for party unity and strategy remain uncertain. With tensions still simmering, the coming months will test whether the party can reconcile internal disagreements while continuing to challenge the Republican-led government.