Senate Democrats are reluctantly offering Republicans vital votes to advance government funding measures despite a lack of GOP assurances that partisan methods won’t later be used to slash bipartisan spending deals.
However, some Democrats suggest it could backfire to so freely extend bipartisanship at a time GOP lawmakers preview more cuts using only Republican votes, and the Trump administration faces fresh accusations of illegally withholding appropriated money.
“To move forward on a meaningful budget bill requires a statement in writing from the Republicans that they intend to protect this money and make certain it goes to the parties for whom it was intended,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told the Washington Examiner.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member of leadership who sits on the Appropriations Committee, lamented Republicans’ lack of guarantees even as Democrats voted overwhelmingly this week to advance the first funding bill for the annual budget.
“It is very hard for Democrats to vote for appropriations bills when Republicans are telegraphing us that they’re going to stab us in the back and cancel out all of this spending we care about as soon as we give them their votes,” Murphy said.
Warren and Murphy were among the seven Democratic Caucus members who dissented from the rest of their colleagues on a spending bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction projects that cleared two procedural votes with support from 90 senators.
Murphy said his opposition was predicated on language that would ease restrictions for mentally ill people to obtain firearms, but said his reservations extended to other pending appropriations bills.
The dilemma for Democrats is part of the broader shutdown saga to fund the government this fall, which is already in full swing. Even with the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, Republicans have been remarkably successful in passing Trump’s agenda without a single Democrat, diluting the minority’s ability to leverage what minimal power they have.
Time and again this year, Republicans have capitalized on their narrow chamber majorities to pass filibuster-skirting measures like President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, DOGE-inspired spending cuts, and rolling back Biden-era regulations. Republicans and White House officials are already eyeing more cuts with a second so-called rescission bill, leaving Democrats scratching their heads why they should work across the aisle to provide required votes to fund the government and avert a shutdown if the GOP can later claw back whatever portions they please with a simple majority.
“It’s hard to reach agreement when they’re telling you every day that they plan to renege on it a few months from now,” said Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), one of the few Democrats to oppose the VA funding bill.
In what Democrats said was the latest I-told-you-so moment, the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog, determined Wednesday that the Trump administration committed its latest violation of the 1974 Impoundment Act. The Department of Health and Human Services withheld congressionally mandated money for early childhood development programs under Head Start.
“Congress delivered this funding for Head Start on a bipartisan basis, and instead of trying to destroy preschool programs and breaking our laws to hurt working families, President Trump needs to ensure every penny of these funds get out in a timely, consistent way moving forward,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on Appropriations.
DEMOCRATS HELP SENATE GOP ADVANCE FUNDING BILL AMID SHUTDOWN THREATS
House and Senate Democratic leaders emerged from a closed-door huddle this week announcing the party was in “complete and total alignment” on the bipartisanship needed from Republicans to secure an annual budget by the Oct. 1 shutdown deadline. However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declined to outline any specific stipulations or red lines with their GOP colleagues.
“They shouldn’t be doing rescissions, plain and simple. That just spoils the whole process that we are trying to put together,” Schumer said. “So, we urge them not to do it.”
