WASHINGTON — House and Senate Democratic leaders released a competing bill Wednesday that reflects their vision for how to fund the government on a short-term basis, drawing a marked contrast with the Republican proposal as a potential shutdown nears.
The Democratic legislation would permanently extend Obamacare subsidies that are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, as well as reverse Medicaid cuts enacted in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” It would lift the freeze on foreign aid funding that the White House is withholding through “pocket rescissions” and restore funding for public broadcasting.
It would keep the government funded through Oct. 31.
The release of the 68-page Democratic bill is sure to escalate tensions between the two parties just a couple of weeks before a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a government shutdown.
Republicans are advancing their own proposal to keep the government funded through Nov. 21, which would maintain current spending levels with limited add-ons. That legislation was not negotiated with Democrats before GOP leaders released it Tuesday, and it would largely continue the status quo for the time being.
Democrats had insisted that they would vote against a bill that didn’t address their priorities. But they don’t control either chamber of Congress or the White House. Still, several Democrats will be needed to pass any government funding bill through the Senate, where 60 votes are required and Republicans control only 53 seats.
“Americans deserve better than more of the same failed Republican agenda," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "For weeks, Democrats have been ready to sit down and hammer out an agreement, but Republicans are following Donald Trump’s orders not to even deal with Democrats instead of doing their jobs. Democrats are fighting to protect healthcare, lower costs, and keep the government open — because that’s what hardworking people expect and deserve.”
Schumer has said for weeks that Democrats wouldn’t accept a bill without a negotiation — unlike in March, when he and other Democratic senators voted to pass a Republican-only funding bill to keep the government afloat. The latest GOP bill, he said earlier Wednesday, “had no input from Democrats.”
Meanwhile, the GOP measure is on track for a House vote by Friday. It is unclear that it has the votes to pass even in the narrow Republican majority, with some conservative lawmakers opposed or skeptical. It needs only a simple majority. But even if it passes, at least seven Senate Democrats would need to support it to break a filibuster.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said earlier that negotiations are taking place among appropriations leaders in both parties on longer-term spending and that the House GOP bill would simply buy more time for a broader agreement.
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He slammed Democrats for their resistance to the stopgap bill.
“Do they actually think that hardworking Americans are going to thank them for shutting down the government?” Thune said Wednesday on the floor. “It’s particularly hard to understand Democrats’ determination to shut down the government when we’re simply asking for a few more weeks to complete bipartisan — bipartisan — appropriations work.”
Republicans are using the same strategy that worked for them in March, when they passed a six-month government funding bill that was written without Democrats. At the time, they dared Democrats to vote it down, and at the eleventh hour, Senate Democrats blinked.
This time, Democratic leaders say they're determined to achieve a different outcome.
In addition to funding the government, both the Republican and Democratic bills include additional security funding for members of Congress and the executive and judicial branches following an uptick in threats and the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
