Government Shutdown Looms With Senate Democrats Opposing 6-Month Funding Bill

Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,

Schumer continued, referring to a short-term bill that would temporarily extend federal funding

Pete Aguilarhouse Democratic Caucus Chair

I don’t know why anyone would support that bill,

California congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic caucus chair, told reporters during a press conference earlier on Wednesday

Whether it’s born out of cruelty, cowardice or corruption are all three, the GOP is hell bent on making families at home unsafe,

she said

John Fettermansenator

If any of those groups want to shut the government down, I would disagree with them,

Mr. Fetterman said

John Cornynsenator

If I listen to our colleagues across the aisle, they claim to have a lot of concern for the federal workers that depend on government funding,

said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas

Patty Murraysenator

Instead of writing a bill that gives our communities what they need, they wrote a bill that turns many of our accounts into slush funds,

said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee

Angus Kingsenator

There are really only two options,

said Senator Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats

That doesn’t mean the Senate shouldn’t be a deliberative body,

he added

Tim Kainesenator

There are not the votes right now to pass it,

Kaine said

I want to be clear, there are lots of reasons to hate the House Republican CR, that is one of them, and it doesn't save taxpayers a dime,

he told The Independent

I think the best way forward is a 30 day CR, continue to negotiate and include disaster aid,

he said

The weeks of performative 'resistance' from those in my party were limited to undignified antics. Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession. I disagree with many points in the CR, but I will never vote to shut our government down,

he wrote

Now that the government funding bill has been passed out of the House, we send it to the Senate. It falls on the desk of Chuck Schumer. He is the leader of the Democrats on that side, and he must determine whether he wants to fund the government, do the responsible thing, or shut the government down."

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, to reporters

Mark Kellysenator

That's also one of the issues with what we're faced here,

Kelly said

I’m hoping that we’ll have a requisite number of Democrats in order to do that,

he said Tuesday

House Republicans right now have demonstrated that they don't care about working with anyone for the good of the American people,

he said

Additionally, the problem I have with the bill is that I think it advances this project that we’re seeing come from the executive branch, this power grab that does not respect that the power of the purse is with the Congress,

he said

Republicans are in charge of the Senate, in charge of the House, and have the White House. The American people know who’s in charge,

he said

If we vote to shut [the government] down, then that's going to be on Democrats; we're going to own that, and I refuse to participate on a vote that shuts our government down,

he added

That’s not how I think about my job – right, my job is to do the right thing for the country and for my state,

Murphy said