Senate Democrats are starting to feel the pressure over a government funding fight that could leave them with no good options.
As a government shutdown looms, a number of Democratic senators are considering supporting a Republican-led year-long continuing resolution — if it can clear the House — simply because the alternative would be worse.
Federal agencies run out of money at midnight on March 14. House Republicans are moving ahead with plans to pass a CR that lasts through Sept. 30. While the margins are tight, House GOP leadership will try to pass the funding bill with only Republican votes. Speaker Mike Johnson is enlisting President Donald Trump for help, with the president set to lobby House Freedom Caucus members on the CR approach later today.
If House Republicans can pass a CR on their own and it reaches the Senate (and that’s not a sure thing), Democratic support would be necessary to get to the needed 60-vote threshold.
Senate Democrats aren’t eager to make Republicans’ lives easier and give into a plan that Democratic appropriators — who favor a short-term CR — oppose. But the prospect of a government shutdown isn’t appealing either. It’s a lesser-of-two-evils decision for a number of Senate Democrats.
“I think the implications of a full-year CR are really horrible, especially for the military,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told us. “And for a state like ours, a shutdown is even worse.”
Here’s Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who’s frequently willing to work with Republicans: “I will never vote for or withhold my vote to shut the government down. That’s chaos and I’ll never vote for chaos.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a Senate Appropriations Committee member, also expressed an openness to a long-term CR.
“I’m going to wait and see what comes over, how that full-year CR is worded and what kind of anomalies are included,” Shaheen said.
Some Democrats insist that the choice isn’t a binary one between a full-year CR or a shutdown, especially since some Senate GOP appropriators also favor a stopgap CR. But if the House passes a long-term CR, that’s the only live option.
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator, is among those pushing for a short-term CR. The idea would be to give negotiators more time to write and pass full-year spending bills.
Murray said a full-year CR would only enable Elon Musk and his DOGE operation.
“We cannot stand by and accept a year-long power grab CR that would help Elon take a chainsaw to programs that families rely on and agencies that keep our communities safe,” Murray said Tuesday.
At the same time, Murray says she doesn’t want a shutdown and noted that Musk has called for one.
But if the House sends the Senate a full-year CR, it would be difficult for Senate Democrats to say no when the only alternative at that point is a shutdown.
The same can be said for Republican defense hawks, many of whom have been sounding the alarm about the detrimental impacts a full-year CR could have on the Pentagon.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the top GOP defense appropriator, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that “forcing the U.S. military to equip itself for next year’s threats at this year’s prices with last year’s dollars is a recipe for disaster.”
