The House passed a continuing resolution ( CR ) to fund the government through September. It was a close contact, with a vote of 217-213. Then the cash costs moves on to the Senate, where some Democrats are threatening to withdraw their aid until Republicans agree to grip in Elon Musk and the Department of Government Performance.
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Another Democrats aren’t so confident. They are arguing that any democratic backlash due to a government shutdown may fall on them. They have until Friday before the state begins to turn off the lights.
The Republicans need eight Democrat senators to vote for the CR to complete it because of the 60-vote legislature law. After their conference meeting on Tuesday, some Democrats want to wrap their tickets while others haven’t made up their minds.
” The talk today was divided. I didn’t say we have a strategy”, said a Democratic senator who requested secrecy to post on the inner discussion. ” There are a lot of individuals who haven’t made a decision”.
On the other hand, that appear to be a number of Democrats who fear what Musk would do with a shutdown.
” The CR is a terrible costs… but a stoppage has bad consequences”, the source added. ” Elon Musk is trying to shut down the government. If we shut down the government, it takes the blame apart from him, and it puts the blame on us for chaos and confusion”.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa. ) made it clear he would vote for the CR regardless.
” I’ve been pretty obvious: I’m not going]to] voting or withhold my voting that’s going to shut down the government”, Fetterman told The Hill.
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” For me, if the Democrats think that they want to lose the town down to save it, that’s bad magnification and that’s going to have significant consequences for millions and millions of people”, he warned. ” I’m never going to vote for that kind of chaos”.
Sen. Angus King ( Maine ), an independent who caucuses with Democrats, warned that tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading President Trump’s effort to downsize government, could use a government shutdown to pressure more federal workers to retire.
” We’re dealing with people — many of whom I suspect consider a shutdown would be a great thing, and they could improve it and use it to increase the government’s power actually beyond what they’re now considering. So that’s something that has to be considered. This isn’t normal”, King warned.
King didn’t state how he would vote on the six-month House-passed temporary but signaled he’s worried about the potential results if Senate Democrats fight it.
Liberals are also dawdling about what to do and perhaps waited until Thursday to choose. The Republicans have not yet scheduled a ballot.
” We haven’t made a final decision. We’re also talking about it”, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill. ) said.
It’s hard to know what the administration thinks about the CR and what should be done. Durbin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have yet to announce their location on the CR.
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It does come over to how many Democrats are willing to hold their noses and vote for it.
” Make no mistake: The whole costs the House is voting on now is House Republicans ‘ personal doing — and it is a fence fireplace. So, I am here to sound the alarm about that fire before it spreads”, Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash. ) said on the Senate floor.
But she didn’t say she doesn’t vote for it.
Virginia’s Tim Kaine even refused to rule out ballot for the costs, despite his concerns.
” It’s a negative act. I can’t think why Republicans would remain signing up for a bill that slashes VA construction and food security. We’ve got an aquatic virus epidemic”, he said. ” The act is awful”.
It may be “horrible”, but it’s all the Liberals have.
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