WASHINGTON — As Congress inches closer toward a government shutdown at the end of this month, party leaders are entering a messaging battle to blame the opposing side for the lack of a bipartisan agreement and a potential lapse in federal funding.
The Senate rejected two dueling spending proposals on Friday led separately by Democrats and Republicans, but both failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster — grinding action to a halt less than 11 days before the shutdown deadline. But rather than engage in bipartisan negotiations and come to a compromise, both sides are pointing fingers toward the other over who caused this last-minute scuffle.
For Republicans, their argument is simple: Their proposal is a “clean” continuing resolution, meaning it keeps the budget at current levels without tying in additional spending, with the exception of $30 million in bipartisan lawmaker security funding. Democrats have historically supported clean extensions, Republicans note, prompting them to accuse the opposite party of politicizing the process now that they’re in the minority.
“The choice is pretty clear. It’s going to be funding the government through the short-term continuing resolution or it’s a government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Friday. “We’ve got the Appropriations Committee and a lot of senators who are ready to go to work to pass bipartisan appropriations bills to fund the government, by allowing additional weeks into November in order to do that. Democrats have to take yes for an answer.”
But Democrats want more tit for tat.
Their proposal includes language to reverse health care cuts approved in President Donald Trump’s tax package this summer and to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits. Without including those, Democrats say millions of Americans’ will be at risk of losing their healthcare coverage.
“The House Republican-only spending bill fails to meet the needs of the American people and does nothing to stop the looming healthcare crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement. “At a time when families are already being squeezed by higher costs, Republicans refuse to stop Americans from facing double-digit hikes in their health insurance premiums.”
Democrats distrust Trump administration
But a deeper concern Democrats hold is that they strongly distrust the Trump administration to keep its word and allocate government funding the way that Congress dictates.
Despite Congress passing bipartisan funding legislation in recent years, much of that was cut by Trump and congressional Republicans in the president’s massive tax package as well as the $9.4 billion rescissions request targeting foreign aid and publicly funded media.
That distrust was further exacerbated after the Office of Management and Budget cut another $4.9 billion in foreign aid programs in August through a process called pocket rescissions, a rarely used and legally questionable procedure that allows the president to cancel government funding without congressional approval.
After that, Democrats threatened to oppose any spending agreement unless Republicans guaranteed the White House wouldn’t unilaterally cut the funds later on. But GOP leaders have defended the president, and Trump has since suggested Republicans should work without Democrats — an impossible scenario considering bipartisan support will be required in the Senate.
“By refusing to work with Democrats, Republicans are steering our country straight toward a shutdown,” Schumer and Jeffries said in their statement. “President Trump called the play last week when he told Congressional Republicans to jam a partisan spending bill down the throats of the American people without Democratic support.”
Top Democratic appropriators have repeatedly accused their GOP counterparts of following Trump’s advice and giving up on a bipartisan deal — therefore leading to a shutdown caused by the party who is charge of Washington.
“If Republicans don’t bother working with Democrats just because Donald Trump said so, it will be a Republican shutdown,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, said on Friday. “Republicans control the House, the Senate, the White House. The American people know who to blame.”
Republicans accuse Democrats of leaving the negotiating table
Meanwhile, Republicans say Democrats have abandoned negotiations entirely — which, they argue, is evidence that the minority party wants a shutdown.
“We’re trying to operate in good faith here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Friday. “Now, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats issued a counteroffer, and the counteroffer is filled with poison pills and partisan demands that will break the system down.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the top Republican appropriator in the Senate, also offered some rare criticism for her Democratic colleagues on Friday — accusing the opposing party of demanding “poison pills.”
Those partisan policy riders, Republicans say, will be the cause of the shutdown.
As of now, senators are not expected to return until Sept. 29, although negotiations could continue during the recess period. Thune told reporters he would be open to discussion, but argued “Democrats seem more intent in satisfying their very leftist base, who is desperately wanting to see a government shut down.”
The government is scheduled to shut down at midnight on Oct. 1.