With mere hours left before a government shutdown, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made it crystal clear—Democrats are willing to let the government grind to a halt rather than pass a House-approved spending bill that keeps the lights on and funds national security priorities.
Schumer announced Wednesday that most Senate Democrats will oppose the House Republican-passed bill, all but ensuring that a partial shutdown will begin at 11:59 p.m. Friday. His reasoning? Republicans dared to draft the bill without allowing leftists to stuff it full of wasteful spending and anti-America policies.
Instead of voting to fund the government, Democrats are holding out for leverage, hoping to extract concessions from Republicans by manufacturing a crisis.
Let’s be clear—Democrats had every opportunity to keep the government open. The House passed a continuing resolution (CR) Tuesday night, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declaring that the Senate had a choice: Fund the government or be responsible for shutting it down.
“This is a shameful display of coordinated political theater,” Johnson stated. “Now it’s decision time for Senate Democrats: cast a vote to keep the government open or be responsible for shutting it down.”
But Schumer and his allies refuse to budge. Left-wing activists are openly celebrating the possibility of a shutdown, believing it will hand them more power. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to social media, urging Democrats not to cave and claiming that “TODAY is the showdown.”
This is nothing but raw political opportunism. Democrats know that in a shutdown, President Biden gets to decide what stays open—and they plan to exploit that power to push their radical agenda.
The GOP-passed CR is simple:
Slight increases in defense spending (+$6 billion)
More money for ICE to deport illegal immigrants (+$10 billion)
$13 billion in cuts to bloated non-defense discretionary spending
It funds critical government functions, keeps national security priorities intact, and cuts unnecessary waste—which is precisely why Democrats hate it.
And let’s not forget Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has ruthlessly slashed federal bloat and exposed billions in waste. Democrats are terrified that a shutdown would allow Musk to accelerate his cost-cutting spree, leading one Senate aide to warn, “A shutdown leaves Elon Musk alone in the candy store.”
Translation? Democrats know that without the bureaucratic swamp to protect them, their entire empire of wasteful government programs is at risk.
The truth is, many Democrats were hoping House Republicans would fail to pass their CR so they could blame them for the crisis. Now that Republicans got the job done, Democrats are scrambling to spin the narrative and shift blame before the clock runs out.
“If the CR fails to clear the Senate by late Friday, this will be a Democrat-engineered shutdown,” said one senior GOP aide.
And that’s exactly what’s happening.
The only Senate Democrat who openly supports the Republican CR is Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). Meanwhile, a few moderates like Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) have expressed openness to the bill, but Schumer’s iron grip on his caucus could doom it.
With Republicans holding a 53-47 Senate advantage, and needing 60 votes to clear a filibuster, at least seven Democrats must defect to keep the government open.
But thanks to the radical left, that looks increasingly unlikely.
While Schumer and Biden play political games, millions of Americans will suffer the consequences of a shutdown. This isn’t about policy—it’s about Democrats doing everything in their power to block Trump’s America First agenda.
Let’s be clear—if the government shuts down, it’s because Senate Democrats refused to fund it. They had the opportunity to pass a clean spending bill, but instead, they chose chaos.
