Democrats are pledging to vote against a GOP stopgap funding bill and plunge the country into a partial government shutdown, but have struggled to express what they dislike within the spending measure they are lining up to oppose.
The Daily Caller News Foundation spoke to 10 Democrats on Wednesday who railed against the seven-week funding bill — despite a majority of their caucus voting to extend government funding levels through short-term continuing resolutions (CRs) more than a dozen times when former President Joe Biden was in office. None could point to a specific provision within the 91-page bill they oppose.
“I’m not supporting the partisan CR,” Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff told the DCNF on Wednesday as he made his way to an elevator following a Senate vote.
The DCNF then asked Schiff which provisions he opposed within the CR.
Schiff replied “Uh —” before letting the elevator doors close.
Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a short-term CR on Tuesday to fund the government through Nov. 21. The measure would fund the government at current levels while providing for additional security assistance for all three branches of government in the aftermath of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination. The speaker could put the bill on the floor as early as Friday morning.
Failure to pass a stopgap funding bill by the Sept. 31 deadline will result in a partial government shutdown.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement on Tuesday slamming the short-term CR as a “Republican-only spending bill that fails to meet the needs of the American people.” The statement did not mention what the Democratic leaders disliked about the bill.
Instead, Democrats have demanded that Republicans include an extension of expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies in a government funding measure among other priorities. Democratic leadership has yet to make explicit demands, but have pledged to roll out an alternative government funding bill.
“The Republicans have a real choice in front of them,” Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock told the DCNF. “Are they going to stand with the American people and mitigate some of the damage that they created by knocking 15 million people off of their healthcare, raising healthcare premiums for almost the entire country — or, are they going to stand with Donald Trump?”
Warnock, however, did not specify which provisions of the CR he opposed when asked by the DCNF.
Other Democrats told the DCNF they would not vote for the CR because it does not include language that would force Trump to spend congressionally-appropriated funds.
“This is a complete blank check to a lawless president who’s demonstrated that he will violate the law and illegally withhold funds that we’ve provided,” Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen told the DCNF. “You need guardrails, you need safeguards, otherwise it’s really not worth the paper it’s written on.”
Van Hollen’s Maryland colleague, Democratic Rep. Johnny Olszewski, agreed, citing the White House’s pocket rescission cancelling $5 billion in foreign aid and contributions to international organizations.
“The biggest thing that is of deep concern to me is the fact that there are no protections against future rescissions,” Olszewski said. “We’ve already seen this administration more than willing to undo bipartisan congressional budgets through the rescissions process.”
Neither Van Hollen nor Olszewski pointed to a provision within the funding measure they were against.
Several Democratic lawmakers the DCNF spoke to appeared unfamiliar with the substance of the CR when discussing their opposition.
“Uh —” Democratic New York Rep. Nydia Velazquez said before taking a long pause when asked by the DCNF what she disliked about the bill.
“There are serious concerns within the area of healthcare, particularly Medicaid. So for me that is a defining issue,” Velazquez said.
The seven-week CR does not touch Medicaid.
Velazquez’s Democratic colleague, New Jersey Rep. Herb Conaway also claimed the bill defunded healthcare.
“There are many things in that CR that are objectionable and particularly those things that have to do with the unprecedented underfunding or really defunding of healthcare,” Conaway told the DCNF.
Republicans’ stopgap bill notably extends healthcare programs at current government levels.
GOP leaders have argued they see no reason to negotiate on a “clean” short-term funding measure that has no partisan policy riders attached. They have also made clear that the CR will not be held hostage to Democrats’ demands for a healthcare policy bill.
“Republicans have deliberately chosen to keep this CR clean to ensure that there can be no possible reason for Democrats to object to funding the government,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “There really is no possible way to call this a partisan CR with a straight face.”
Some Democrats have appeared to boil down their opposition to the CR to their animosity toward the president. Trump said Republicans should not work with Democrats to fund the government during a “Fox & Friends” interview on Monday.
“Donald Trump said he doesn’t want to work with us,” Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday. “And so if he doesn’t want to work with us then I wish him the best.”
“I ran for this job. I had to work hard to get this job,” Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said Wednesday. “I didn’t run for the job just to let Trump and the Republicans write something and tell me to take it or leave it.”
Andi Shae Napier and Caden Olson contributed to this report.
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