(Bloomberg) — Senate Democrats on Friday rejected a Republican spending bill in a vote that will almost certainly push the US government shutdown into next week as the party stands firm in the face of President Donald Trump’s threats to fire thousands of federal workers and extract political revenge.
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With the two sides locked in a standoff that raises the prospects of lengthy furloughs and a prolonged disruption in government services, senators left Washington for the weekend. Across the Capitol, House Republicans announced lawmakers would remain out of town for another week, with no votes planned until mid-October.
The leaders of both parties are sticking to their talking points as the first shutdown in nearly seven years stretches into its third day. Friday marked the fourth time Democrats have rejected a no-strings temporary measure to open the government through Nov 21. Republicans also blocked a Democratic alternative with $1.5 trillion in added spending, mostly on health care.
The resistance marks a turnabout for Democrats, who in March yielded to Trump’s demands amid concerns that the newly inaugurated president was too powerful and popular to take on. Now, however, the party is betting that their efforts to protect Obamacare premium subsidies and reverse Medicaid cuts will resonate with voters — and that the fight is worth the pain of Trump’s hard-ball tactics.
“The vindictive behavior by Donald Trump and his Republican minions as part of this shutdown only serves to highlight the cruelty of this administration,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters late Thursday.
Hopeful signs earlier in the week of a potential deal have faded as Trump’s threats only inflame partisan sniping and embolden Democrats. During an Oval Office meeting with congressional leaders on Monday, Jeffries said Trump was cordial, addressed him by his first name, and indicated support for fixing an American health-care system the president agreed was “broken.”
Just hours later, Jeffries said he was stunned when Trump posted a deep-fake AI video depicting Jeffries in a sombrero. The House Democratic leader decried it as “racist,” but acknowledged there’s no escaping negotiations with the president.
“Would I prefer to be negotiating with a more traditional Republican president? The answer would be yes, but that’s not the reality that we confront,” Jeffries said.
As the threat of federal firings casts a shadow over Washington, Republicans warned that the consequences of a continued shutdown would only increase.
“If they keep the government closed it will get more and more painful,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said, adding any talks over Obamacare subsidies can only happen after Democrats vote to reopen the government.
Johnson on Friday offered a small olive branch to Democrats and said that lawmakers can “certainly” work together on a possible Obamacare deal in October if the government is reopened. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, immediately added that he can make no “promises” of action since he doesn’t know if a subsidy extension can pass.
Democratic leaders argue that Trump and White House Budget Director Russ Vought had already planned to try to gut federal agencies and conduct mass layoffs whether there was a shutdown or not.
Senate spending panel Chairwoman Patty Murray told reporters Thursday that any firings during the shutdown would surely be challenged in court. Murray and other Democrats have pointed to appropriations laws, which they say forbid the government from spending money during a shutdown on activities like preparing reductions in force and making severance payments to fired workers.
“A shutdown does not give the president any additional ability to fire people,” Murray said.
Democrats also point to Vought’s pledge to hold up $20 billion in New York and Chicago infrastructure funding and $8 billion in clean energy projects in Democratic states as jeopardizing US jobs and driving up utilities prices — a record, they say, that won’t serve Republicans well in the 2026 midterm elections.
These arguments have helped underline Democrats’ opposition in the Senate, where Republicans need at least five more Democrats to overcome a filibuster of the spending bill. Three members of the Democratic caucus have already backed the legislation.
Several key Senate Republicans said Friday they had been optimistic in informal bipartisan talks but any progress had fallen apart by the afternoon.
South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds, who has said he wants a compromise on the health care subsidies, said he fears the shutdown will only become harder to resolve when the House returns and angry lawmakers add to the blame game.
“You’re just going to have more fuel to the fire,” he said
The most likely pickups for Republicans are moderate Democrats who voted to keep the government open in March and those in swing states. The list includes New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, as well as Michigan’s Gary Peters, all of whom voted to fund the government six months ago.
Virginia’s Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are seen as keen to reopen the government given the number of federal workers in Virginia. Others swing-state senators who Republicans eye as potential flip votes include Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly of Arizona, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
Many of these senators have been involved in informal talks with Republicans, but distrust of the president runs high and Democrats say they won’t settle for what they consider empty promises from Republicans. Democrats see government spending as their strongest point of leverage, and the only way they can get anything addressing the Obamacare subsidies through the House, where Johnson opposes extending the subsidies.
“We are all hanging in here protecting people’s health care,” Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said just before the Friday vote.
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