Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is moving forward with a high-stakes strategy to pressure Democrats into supporting a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through September, setting up a showdown vote just hours before a potential shutdown.
It passed the House on Tuesday, which challenged Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s vow that Democrats won’t join Republicans to tally the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.
“Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR,” Schumer declared Wednesday after meeting with his caucus.
Thune called his bluff and scheduled a cloture vote for Friday on the six-month funding measure backed by President Donald Trump.
What comes next is straightforward but challenging for Republicans. With a 53-47 majority and Sen. Rand Paul, R-K.Y., already announcing his opposition to the CR, Republicans need at least eight Democratic votes from moderates to reach the 60-vote threshold required to overcome a filibuster.
Behind the public posturing, however, sources familiar with internal Democratic dynamics say there’s infighting and indecisiveness.
Several Senate Democrats, particularly those from swing states, have privately said they may join Republicans and vote to avert a shutdown despite Schumer’s public stance.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-P.A., has been the most vocal about the need for compromise to avoid a government closure.
“Now it’s a CR that we all agree we don’t like — but for me we can’t ever allow the government to shut down,” Fetterman said Wednesday. “If you shut it down, you will impact and hurt millions and millions and millions Americans, and you run the risk of slipping us into a recession.”
Other moderates, including Sens. Mark Kelly, D-A.Z., and John Hickenlooper, D-C.O., have also expressed concerns about shutdown consequences, with Hickenlooper warning that a shutdown would give Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) more opportunity to quickly slash waste.
“The president has shown a willingness to cut far and wide, really on impulse in many cases… if you shut down, he decides what is essential,” Hickenlooper cautioned.
The House-passed CR includes minimal changes to current spending levels, which Democrats largely supported in December. One notable addition is $485 million spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested by Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to continue deportation operations.
Democrats have instead proposed a clean 30-day extension to allow more time for omnibus spending negotiations. They’ve also demanded that Trump be forced to spending all appropriated taxpayer money, and stopped from continuing DOGE cuts they oppose.
Schumer’s demand for a vote on a 30-day alternative has put Democrats in a difficult position. Even if the Senate were to pass such a measure, the House has already adjourned for the week with no plans to return before the March 14 funding deadline.
Internal Democratic divisions were on display Wednesday when senators debated strategy for more than an hour in the Lyndon B. Johnson Room in the U.S. Capitol building. The discussion reportedly grew so heated that “some senators could be heard shouting through the door.”
Without an agreement to expedite consideration, even if Democrats ultimately provide the necessary votes, a brief weekend shutdown could still occur due to procedural timelines.
As the Friday deadline approaches, all eyes are on moderate Senate Democrats who face increasing pressure to choose between supporting a Republican-crafted CR or taking responsibility for a government shutdown that would furlough the very federal workers they’ve defended against Trump administration reductions.