First in Punchbowl News: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will deliver a floor speech Wednesday outlining her opposition to participating in bipartisan appropriations negotiations.
Warren, a leading Senate progressive, will argue that Democrats can’t trust Republicans to uphold any government funding agreement given the recent rescissions package. Here’s a key portion of the speech:
“Why should Democrats come to the table in good faith and throw our support behind a quote-unquote bipartisan bill, only for Republicans to turn around after the deal is done and, somewhere down the line, delete any of the parts Trump doesn’t like?
“That’s like Republicans saying: ‘Let’s cut a deal to sell you a car today,’ and then a month from now, they come back and steal the wheels.”
It’s important to note that Warren was one of just eight senators to vote against proceeding to the MilCon-VA bill last week. But there’s larger unhappiness and distrust within the Democratic Caucus about going along with bipartisan FY2026 talks given OMB Director Russ Vought’s rhetoric.
“Democrats should tell Republicans that if they want our votes, they will have to guarantee that any deal we strike actually means something,” Warren will say.
