WASHINGTON – Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer appeared to have announced that government shutdowns would begin Friday on Wednesday, with the suspension law going out.

“While funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, Republicans have chosen a partisan path to draft ongoing resolutions without the opinions of Congressional Democrats,” Schumer said in a short floor speech. “So Republicans have not voted in the Senate to call House CR coagulation.”

Schumer of New York said Senate Democrats were “unified” by passing a suspended spending bill that would fund the federal government until April 11 instead.

“We hope that our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid Friday’s closure,” Schumer said.

Voters in November gave GOP control for both chambers of Congress, but The StopGup Expense Bill was passed Tuesday Without Democrats, you cannot pass the Senate.

Republicans currently have 53 seats, but at least 60 senators will need to vote in favor of limiting discussion to move past procedural votes.

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul publicly opposed the House of Representatives’ suspension spending bill. This means at least eight Senate Democrats have to break the rank to move towards the final passage.

Compounding the matter even further, the house will depart for a week-long St. Patrick’s Day break on Tuesday and will not return to Capitol Hill until Monday, March 24th.

The Senate amended a suspension spending bill that passed by the House of Representatives, which funds the government until the end of September, so that the chamber would not vote for it by Friday’s closing deadline.

And, as Schumer suggested, if the Senate passes a long Democrat spending bill on a month, that seems very unlikely, but it doesn’t vote to send it to President Donald Trump.

What happens to the shutdown?

The federal government has experienced a significant portion of the partial government closure in the past when Congress and the President did not reach an agreement on time.

The Enforcement Department has the broad authority to allow such funds to remain in order to divide federal workers with exemptions. This means they are either continuing their work or essentially not exempt. The military is exempt.

Both sets of federal employees under federal law will receive their salaries, usually under a halt expenditure bill, once Congress and the White House have reached an agreement to fund the government.

However, partial government closures have a drastic impact on federal government activities, and this year’s financial suspension will have a much broader impact than what lasted more than a month during Trump’s first term.

The closure, which began in December 2018, had no impact on the defense, education, energy, health, welfare and veterans departments as Congress had already approved four full-year spending bills covering their businesses.

Lawmakers had also approved the Legislative Branch Budget Bill, which meant that members of Congress and their staff were exempt from negative impact.

Dozens of annual spending bills have not yet become law, meaning that all sectors and agencies that make up the federal government will be affected.

The Trump administration had not yet posted a contingency plan as of Wednesday afternoon, but the closures have not hampered Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid management.

“often difficult and quick” closure decision

The only remnants of the Biden administration’s closure guidance remained on management and budget websites were 17-page Q&A Document It says that all “operational decisions during budget expiration require individuals, difficult and prompt, factual and legal judgments.”

“The agency must ensure that this analysis is carefully conducted in preparing contingency plans for potential future expiration of the budget, but it is intended to ensure that funded exception activities can continue in an effective manner.”

Internet Archives Maintain agency breakdowns How did the federal government operate during the Biden administration during its shutdown? However, these plans could be updated by the Trump administration, and perhaps completely rewritten.

Shutting down the federal government will also destroy the economy.

a Report The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the 2018-2019 closure “delayed approximately $18 billion in federal discretionary spending on goods and services compensation and purchases, and halted several federal services.”

The CBO estimated that the shutdown reduced gross domestic product “lower than before.”

Last updated at 4:50pm, March 12, 2025