Friday's deadline to fund the government is fast approaching. While the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) earlier this week, its fate in the Senate remains uncertain. On Wednesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) claimed the CR lacked the votes to clear cloture, but that may have been a bluff. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), however, is confident it will pass the Senate despite opposition from Schumer and the Democrats.
"I'm not clairvoyant," Kennedy told Newsmax on Wednesday, "but I think it's going to pass."
"My Democratic colleagues are not happy, you know. They're not happy in general right now. But the truth is this: they don't want to shut government down. And I applaud them for that. Republicans certainly don't want to shut the government down,” he continued. “The CR would keep government open, cut $13 billion from nondefense discretionary spending, spend $6 billion extra on defense. It would spend a smaller amount of money than we spent in fiscal year '24 or fiscal year '23. It's not perfect, but it's good, and I think it's going to pass."
Kennedy hit the nail on the head when he noted that Democrats are "not happy in general right now." Of course, they're not. Democrats aren’t happy people in general, and they have virtually no leverage in this battle, especially since neither outcome is going to work out for them. The $1.6 trillion CR delivers real conservative wins, including $13 billion in cuts to non-defense spending while boosting defense by $6 billion, and, of course, keeps DOGE running. But a shutdown doesn’t exactly help the federal workers whom Democrats claim to be looking out for, either.
“If you shut down the government,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said Wednesday. “[Trump] will decide, without any safeguards, what gets reopened, what doesn’t. Who knows how long he’ll want to keep the government shut down so that he has total control… The president gets immensely more authority.”
Related: Senate Democrats May Already Be Caving on the CR
According to Politico's reporting, Schumer's tough talk about Democrat unity against the CR is about as genuine as a Biden family business venture. Behind closed doors, Senate Democrats are already negotiating their surrender terms; they just want a symbolic vote on their own doomed 30-day proposal so they can pretend they put up a fight.
It's political theater at its finest. Democrats will help clear the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the House bill while voting against final passage — giving them talking points for their base while ensuring that the government stays open.
Democrats are caught between their radical left-wing base demanding resistance at all costs and the political reality that they don't have the cards to play hardball. They're desperate to avoid being blamed for a shutdown while also appeasing their progressive wing that thinks compromise is a four-letter word.
When Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) brings this to the floor, watch how quickly Democrats find reasons to "reluctantly" support moving the process forward. They'll give passionate speeches about their principles before doing exactly what Republicans want, just like they always do.
The bottom line? The Democrats are in a lose-lose situation. In the end, despite Schumer's threat, it is more likely that this CR is going to pass, the government will stay open, and conservatives will bank some real wins on spending cuts. And Democrats will do what they do best — declare victory while retreating. Some things never change in Washington.
