WASHINGTON – Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced in a floor speech Thursday evening that he would vote to advance a suspension spending bill that must become law late Friday night to avoid government shutdowns.

“The CR bill is a very bad thing, but the possibility of closure affects America much worse,” Schumer said, referring to the StopGap bill, officially known as a continuous solution.

“Indeed, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It’s not a clean CR. It’s deeply partisan. It doesn’t address that much of the needs of this country,” he added. “But I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take more power through government shutdowns is a much worse option.”

The Senate is expected to make its first procedural vote on the bill on Friday, but both parties will need to reach a time contract to win a final passing vote before the deadline.

Schumer’s comment came exactly a day later He declared Republicans didn’t have the 60 votes needed to move beyond the procedural vote to make it into a final passage, setting the stage for the lapse of funds that affect almost every corner of the federal government.

The reversal by party leaders shows that enough Democrats will likely vote for Republicans to send them to President Donald Trump by cutting debate over the bill passed in the House.

Don’t pay during shutdown

During partial government closures, federal departments and agencies have broad authority to determine which federal employees will continue to work and which employees will be sent home. Neither group was paid until Congress and Trump reached an agreement on how to fund the government.

Schumer argued that taking part in the government’s partial shutdown would give Trump and his administration more power than limiting federal operations.

“The decisions on what was essential were left to the administrative department solely, and no one left to the institution that checked them,” Schumer said. “In short, when we shut it down, we were given Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Doge, and (Manager and Budget Director Russ) took the keys of cities, states and countries.”

Democrats also want to ensure that the Trump administration’s sole responsibility is the negative impact of attacking federal workers.

“Now, Donald Trump owns government turmoil. He owns stock market turmoil. He owns the damage that is happening to our economy from one end of the country to the other,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump wants to close because it’s a distraction from his true agenda. He delivers a massive cut to the rich who’s paid to the backs of American families.”

Democratic votes are required

Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, but Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he will vote against moving forward with the ongoing resolution. This means at least eight Democrats must vote for the GOP.

Schumer and Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman previously announced their support for the suspension spending bill, but at least six colleagues will be needed to vote with them on Friday.

It was not immediately clear Thursday which democratic senator would vote those votes.

house I voted mainly along the party line on Tuesday. Sent the StopGap spending bill to the Senate.

Congress was to complete decades of work on the government’s funding bill by October 1, but instead used the ongoing resolution to fund the government until Friday.

Both parties and harvesters from both rooms had spent weeks reaching an agreement on how much they would spend on the bill this fiscal year, but they couldn’t do it in time.

To avoid expiration of funds, R-La. speaker Mike Johnson announced a continuing resolution over the weekend that funds the government until September, cutting back on efforts to get a full year bill agreement, essentially nearly six months into the fiscal year.

The ongoing resolution will free up the time and energy of Republicans who gained uniform control of the government during the November election, extend the tax laws of 2017, negotiate their own deals on finding ways to pay for the cause and expected deficit increase.

Last updated at 6:55pm, March 13, 2025