It’s been a wild week on Capitol Hill as Republicans fought to get a continuing resolution bill passed to fund the federal government at current levels until September 30. On Tuesday the House passed the bill 217-213 and sent it to the Senate. After blustering for a few days, Senate Minority Leader Chuck “Shutdown” Schumer caved on Thursday and announced that he would not be voting for a government shutdown, explaining that President Trump and DOGE would be more dangerous to Democrat party priorities during a government shutdown than through the CR.
READ MORE: Chuck Schumer Calls Republicans ‘Bastards,’ but Deep Down He Knows He Got Played on the CR
Late Friday afternoon the Senate voted yes on cloture 62-38, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans. That sets the bill up for passage on what will likely be a party-line vote after a few amendments are voted on.
Cloture invoked on a 62-38 vote, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to end debate. pic.twitter.com/fzBWEdY2Ge
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) March 14, 2025
Almost before Schumer’s speech on the Senate floor ended Thursday, House Dems started hammering him, and that continued through the day Friday, with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries publicly criticizing Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying that it would be “a big mistake” for Schumer to vote for cloture, which would allow the CR to pass with a simple majority, and mobilizing her base to call Senate Democrats.
Republicans’ partisan spending bill turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
It’s unthinkable that any Senate Democrat would hand them a blank check by voting for cloture. pic.twitter.com/bAfJabwfkN
— Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@RepAOC) March 14, 2025
As my colleague Joe Cunningham wrote, Schumer didn’t have a great option.
Democrats had two choices, and neither one was good:
Option 1: Filibuster the resolution and shut down the government, handing Russ Vought—the OMB director and a fiscal conservative who will take a machete to government spending with a mad grin on his face (probably)—full control over what spending gets prioritized.
Option 2: Pass the CR and keep the government open, but in doing so, legitimize the spending cuts that Republicans have been working toward all along (and, more importantly, legitimizing Elon Musk’s work).
They chose the latter, because between letting Vought run wild in a shutdown or dealing with the political fallout of conceding to Republicans, they went with what they saw as the lesser of two evils. But make no mistake—this was a trap, and Chuck Schumer knows it.
By late afternoon some ambitious Dems smelled blood in the water, like Sens. Jon Ossoff and Kirsten Gillibrand:
“I’m not answering questions today!”
Kirsten Gillibrand doesn’t want to talk about it either… pic.twitter.com/zugixnA1uK
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 14, 2025
…and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Senate Democrats need to stand up and do the right thing.
Passing this bill would give Republicans 6 months to consolidate power in the Executive branch and wreak havoc on our country.
They are already threatening social security and Medicare. Gutting the Department of…
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) March 14, 2025
Wonder how that failure tastes?
Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
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