Democrats won’t flirt with a government shutdown ahead of the Jan. 30 funding deadline and instead want to see a bipartisan appropriations process, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday.
In an interview in his Capitol office — we’ll feature much more on Friday — the New York Democrat telegraphed a very different posture for his party compared to the last funding deadline, which saw Democrats instigate the longest shutdown in U.S. history over health care subsidies.
Schumer noted that the enhanced Obamacare subsidies will have expired by Jan. 30, and he argued that Republicans have shown they’re incapable of striking a bipartisan deal anyway. Democrats also feel like they’ve succeeded in making health care a top-of-mind issue for voters next November.
“As of Jan. 1, that is a different time than before because the ACA [subsidies] expired,” Schumer told us. “On the other hand, we’d like to get an appropriations bill done. That’s a Jan. 30 deadline … We’re trying to work with the Republicans to get it done.”
To be sure, there will be many Democrats who want to use Jan. 30 as leverage in the Obamacare fight or something else. But Schumer is reflecting the reality that there likely aren’t enough Democrats willing to plunge into another shutdown.
“My sense is that approach and the question of the health care subsidies are now not on the same tracks. They’re not on the same timeline,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), an appropriator and the likely next Democratic whip. “Because appropriations is going — I wouldn’t say well, but better than it had been — there’s a desire to get that done.”
Reality check. Democrats’ posture is a notable shift, but there are still major obstacles to averting a shutdown. Both chambers are far behind schedule on finalizing full-year FY2026 funding bills and key disagreements remain.
The Senate is trying to lock in an agreement before leaving for recess today that would set up floor action on a long-stalled package of five funding bills.
The Senate package would include Transportation-HUD, Defense, Labor-HHS, Commerce-Justice-Science and Interior.
Senate GOP leaders on Wednesday were finally able to clear the remaining objections from fiscal hawks who oppose the inclusion of earmarks in the funding bills. Democratic leaders are now checking for objections and amendment vote requests on their side, but say it’ll likely take longer than just a day.
More broadly, senators from both parties said on Wednesday that appropriators and leadership aides will need to spend much of the holiday break working to reconcile both chambers’ funding bills. The Senate Appropriations Committee hasn’t even posted its Homeland Security or State Department-Foreign Operations bills.
“It’s not gonna be easy, but we can get it done,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), an appropriator.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) have been trading offers on topline spending figures for individual bills.
The House. Cole has been adamant that the Senate’s five-bill minibus is too big to move in the House.
Instead, Cole wants to see trios of funding bills pass the House, one for each week the House is in session in January. Republican appropriators are still working out which bills would go first, but Defense and Labor-HHS would likely go last.
Cole also talked with some top House Democratic appropriators this week about their priorities in the remaining funding bills.
As part of the deal to end the government shutdown in November, Congress passed a three-bill minibus funding Legislative Branch, MilCon-Va and Agriculture for FY2026.
Cole said the rest of this appropriations process needs to move “in a bipartisan way.”
“We’re not trying to jam anybody,” Cole said. “There’s a lot of raw feelings after the shutdown. We’re trying to restore the trust inside the committee.”
