THE NEWS

Update (1831ET): The Senate passed the House Republican-drafted bill on Friday to fund the government through September, avoiding a government shutdown just hours before a midnight deadline.

The final vote of 54-46 – which did not require 60 votes (only the previous Cloture vote did), was mostly along party lines – with two members of the Democratic caucus voting for the bill; Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) – who is retiring at the end of her term, and Angus King (Maine). Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), as expected, voted no.

The bill will now move to President Donald Trump’s desk, who will have to sign it before midnight to avert a shutdown. Assuming that’s the case (and we do assume that), we get to do this all over again in September. Joy of joys!

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Black hats are gone, but we’ve still got a few green ones left…

Combine with multitool for free shipping.

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Update (1700ET): After a dramatic game of chicken and House Democrats freaking out over Chuck Schumer’s ‘betrayal,’ the Senate has enough votes to advance the GOP-crafted government funding bill past the 60-vote procedural threshold to advance to a final vote (aka the ‘pre-vote’ or ‘test-vote’ before the big-boy vote).

With Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voting no, at least eight Democrats needed to join the other 52 Republicans in addition to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Those who joined R’s included; Durbin, King, Schatz, Cortez Masto, Hassan, Peters, Gillibrand and Fetterman… The vote is ongoing.

Now – we wait for the big vote, after which the Senate will call it a night and go on vacation for a week unless for some reason enough Republicans suddenly vote ‘no’ and we’re back in disarray.

Developing…

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Congressional Democrats are in full revolt after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) folded like a wet paper napkin and agreed to vote ‘yes’ on the House-passed government funding measure that effectively ends the shutdown fight as long as six more Democrats join Schumer and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) who’s a ‘yes’ as well.

As it stands, the Senate will vote this afternoon to overcome a filibuster of the House’s continuing resolution, which funds federal agencies through Sept. 30 at current 2024 levels, but also includes approximately $13 billion in cuts to nondefense programs, and $6 billion in additional military spending. It’s unclear what time the vote will occur, as both sides are working to secure an agreement to allow senators to finish before the midnight shutdown deadline and head home for a weeklong recess.

Schumer claims he has no choice, saying that a shutdown would be a “gift” to the Trump administration, and “the best distraction he could ask for from his awful agenda.”

“It is deeply partisan. It doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs. But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option,” he said Thursday on the Senate floor.

On Thursday night, Schumer went on MSNBC to pretend he was outraged, but just had to pass the bill (and call Republicans ‘bastards.’)

🚨DESPERATE CHUCK SCHUMER CALLS REPUBLICANS “BASTARDS”🚨

“It’s much, much better not to be in the middle of a shutdown, which would divert people from the number one issue we have against these bastards!”

“They’re ruining democracy!” pic.twitter.com/9i90rfOv9z

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 14, 2025

“It’s much, much better not to be in the middle of a shutdown, which should divert people from the number one issue we have against these bastards, sorry, these people, which is not only all these cuts, but they’re ruining democracy,” he said.

President Trump congratulated Schumer, posting to Truth Social:

Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took “guts” and courage! The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT

Democrats In Disarray

House Democrats huddled at their annual strategy retreat in Northern Virginia on Thursday, where they bombarded their Senate colleagues with calls and texts urging them to nuke the GOP bill.

That said, Democrats didn’t have the cards…

Let’s be blunt here: Democrats picked a fight they couldn’t win and caved without getting anything in return. –Punchbowl

House Democrats also oppose the spending cuts contained in the GOP bill, warning that they will erode critical public services (grifts), and that fact that the GOP bill excludes specific language to limit what Elon Musk and DOGE can do as the Trump administration continues to slash federal agencies and programs unchecked by Congress, The Hill reports.

But Schumer rejected their demands.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (a performance artist herself) led the charge against Senate Democrats, after House Democrats united against the GOP bill in the lower chamber.

“There is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” said AOC. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats, This is across the board — the entire party.”

“Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing Elon Musk — I think it is a huge slap in the face,” she continued. 

“It’s an awful decision,” said Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-NY). “People are angry. We were almost to a person in unison [on the House vote]. … And a significant percentage of their caucus is voting to allow the Republicans to do whatever they want to do.”

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“Right now, they are openly saying that they will take this money that is in this bill and then they will just appropriate it for whatever they want,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).

“People have to know what Democrats stand up for, and they’ve got to see us fighting for them,” she added. “And if we’re just the same, and we’re just going to enable Republicans to do what they’re doing, I think that’s obviously why people are frustrated.”

Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) – head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said that the GOP bill is specifically designed to let Trump and Musk keep ‘plundering.’

“First and foremost, Senate Republicans should back down from screwing over their own constituents,” he said. “And then second, Senate Democrats should do the same thing House Democrats did, which is fight for our constituents and block this bill.”

“Democrats were elected to fight for working people, not put up a fake fight.“

Speaking of fake fights…

It’s all an act…

Rep. Thomas Massie says it’s all an act… a “fake fight” in the House that “will become obvious when the Senate Democrats vote for this stinker.”

The low down on this CR. It’s a fake fight here in the House that will become obvious when the Senate Democrats vote for this stinker. pic.twitter.com/MPD9quy2aN

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 11, 2025

As Punchbowl notes in its post-mortem…

There’s a reason Republicans put Democrats in this position – because they know Democrats would eventually cave. And they did.

During this whole fight, Democrats never managed to put Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Trump in a tough spot. There are plenty of policies House Democrats could’ve asked for in the CR — more money for certain programs, for instance — that would’ve placed Republicans in a bind. But they never made the case publicly for anything like that.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, essentially tried to have it both ways. They spent the last few days — which included three long and contentious lunch meetings — warning each other in private about the grave dangers of forcing a government shutdown. But in front of TV cameras, they were trashing the House GOP CR and insisting they wouldn’t vote for the funding measure. This won them praise from progressives, activist groups and House Democrats.

Schumer, who didn’t take a public position until last night, fired a warning shot on Wednesday when he said Republicans didn’t have enough Democratic votes to pass the CR, basically threatening a filibuster. In the meantime, Senate Democrats pushed for a short-term CR intended to buy time for a bipartisan funding deal that was never going anywhere.

This set up the Democratic base for disappointment for seemingly no reason.