Senate Democrats talked tough, but in the end, they folded like a cheap tent.
Nine Democrats and one Independent joined with Republicans to end debate and proceed to a final vote on the continuing resolution (CR) to avert a shutdown.
The 62-38 vote – 60 votes were needed – is a victory for President Donald Trump, who invested significant political capital over several weeks ensuring the bill passed the House en route to the Senate.
Senate Democrats’ yielding to Trump’s CR infuriated House Democrats, who were almost united in standing against the bill. Only one House Democrat – Rep. Jared Golden, representing a rural Maine district won by Trump – defected Tuesday when the CR passed the House.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fueled the fury of the Democrats’ base earlier in the week.
Schumer announced on the Senate floor Wednesday the Republicans did not have the votes for their plan, presumably to force them to negotiate with Democrats. Yet Thursday, he announced he would support the CR.
Ultimately, Democrats received no concessions other than a handful of amendment votes doomed to fail.
House Democrat leadership returned to Washington Friday afternoon to speak against the CR, a remarkable rebuke of Schumer in which the leaders refused to confirm Schumer should remain leader.
In a damage-control Senate floor speech before the vote, Schumer said, “The vote before us is a Hobson’s choice” – using terminology from an earlier Breitbart News report that posited Schumer did not have a choice at all in passing the CR.
“The CR bill is a bad bill. But as bad as the CR is, I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he said.
Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) announcement that he would support cloture preceded Schumer’s, but the third Democrat announcement did not come until minutes before the vote.
Democrats joining Schumer and Fetterman were Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (NM), Brian Schatz (HI), Dick Durbin (IL), Maggie Hassan (NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), and retiring Sens. Gary Peters (MI) and Jeanne Shaheen (NH), along with Angus King (I-ME).
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), members of Schumer’s leadership team, voted against the CR, in a sign of trouble ahead for Schumer.
But more significantly, the episode signals the growing civil war inside a Democratic Party searching for a strategy and a spine as it combats Trump’s second administration.
Meanwhile, Trump and Republicans continue piling up wins, with no end in sight.
The vote on final passage will take place Friday evening. It needs only a simple majority.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
