US Senate passes Bill to avert shutdown, House Democrats turn on Schumer

WASHINGTON – The US Senate on March 14 passed a stopgap spending Bill, averting a partial government shutdown, after Democrats backed down in a stand-off driven by anger over President Donald Trump’s campaign to slash the federal workforce.

After days of heated debate, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer broke the logjam on the night of March 13, saying he would vote to allow the Bill to advance. Mr Schumer said he did not like the Bill but believed that triggering a shutdown would be a worse outcome, as Mr Trump and his adviser Elon Musk were moving swiftly to slash spending.

The Senate voted 54-46 to pass the Bill and send it to Mr Trump for signing into law, after fending off four amendments.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier in the week passed the measure, which largely leaves spending steady at about US$6.75 trillion (S$9 trillion) in the fiscal year that ends on Sept 30.

Democrats had expressed anger over the Bill, which will cut spending by about US$7 billion and which they said does nothing to stop Mr Trump’s campaign to halt congressionally mandated spending and slash tens of thousands of jobs.

The moves come as Mr Trump is locked in a trade war with some of America’s closest allies that has sparked a major sell-off in stocks and raised recession worries.

Democrats turn on Schumer

Mr Schumer’s manoeuvre sent shock waves through the Democratic Party and laid bare members’ divisions over how to stand up to Mr Trump while they remain in the governing minority.

“When the Senate Minority Leader sells you out, the only option is to take back the party and country with grassroots activists in blue and red districts to stand up for the Constitution and our democracy,” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna said in a social media post.

Senate Democrats refrained from attacking Mr Schumer, focusing their harsh words on Mr Trump and Mr Musk.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether he backed Mr Schumer’s leadership at a March 14 press conference, exposing stunning cracks in the Democrats’ strategy.

Mr Schumer’s decision particularly rattled House Democrats, who were huddled at a retreat in a suburb of Washington. Mr Jeffries rushed back to Washington to hold an impromptu press conference on the spending Bill.

House Democratic Caucus chairman Pete Aguilar told reporters that Mr Schumer’s move had caught him by surprise. More than 60 members signed a letter to Mr Schumer on March 14, urging him to reject the measure.

Lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, heaped public criticism on Mr Schumer on March 14, even without naming him directly. Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote on social media platform X on March 13 that an affirmative vote was “unthinkable”.

“Today, the biggest split among Democrats is between those who want to stand and fight and those who want to play dead,” said Congressional Progressive Caucus chairman Greg Casar in a statement after Mr Schumer and nine other Democratic senators voted to advance the Bill.

Mr Schumer told Reuters he was unfazed by the criticism, or Mr Jeffries’ refusal to say he had confidence in him.

“We’ve been friends for a long time. There are always going to be disagreements on issues,” Mr Schumer said in a brief interview. “When I took my position, I knew some would disagree, but I felt shutting down the government would have been a disaster.”

Blocking the Bill would have required the support of at least 41 of Mr Schumer’s Democrats, who have long opposed government shutdowns as causing needless chaos to American families.

Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate.

The partisan Bill will reduce spending by about US$7 billion from 2024’s levels. The US military will get about US$6 billion more, while non-defence programmes will see a US$13 billion reduction.

Up next: Debt and taxes

Congressional Republicans will now turn their attention to a plan to extend and expand Mr Trump’s 2017 tax cuts – his major first-term legislative achievement – boost funding for border security and cut spending in other areas, which Democrats warn could imperil the Medicaid healthcare programme for low-income Americans.

Republicans also need to act by some time this spring or summer to raise their self-imposed debt ceiling or risk triggering a catastrophic default on the federal government’s nearly US$36.6 trillion debt.

That measure, which Republicans plan to pass using a manoeuvre to bypass Democratic opposition, could add US$5 trillion to US$11 trillion to the debt, according to non-partisan budget analysts. REUTERS