Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries Monday called on their Republican counterparts to meet immediately to avert a government shutdown looming as soon as the end of next month.
The Democratic congressional leaders, both of whom are from Brooklyn, called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to sit down this week to discuss a plan to pass next year’s budget, which would normally require negotiation with the minority party to secure the 60 votes needed in the Senate to avoid a filibuster.
“We have the responsibility to govern for all Americans and work on a bipartisan basis to avert a painful, unnecessary shutdown at the end of September,” Schumer and Jeffries wrote.
The Democratic leaders noted they are willing to work with Republicans on a bipartisan basis to negotiate a budget deal that would keep the government open past Sept. 30.
But they accused President Trump and GOP leaders of plotting to govern without any input from Democrats and shut down the government if they don’t get their way.
“Many within your party are preparing to ‘go it alone’ and continue to legislate on a solely Republican basis,” the Democratic leaders wrote.
Government funding will expire Sept. 30. Lawmakers say to prevent a shutdown Congress will likely need to pass a stopgap funding measure when lawmakers return to Washington D.C. after Labor Day.
In exchange for their cooperation in passing new budget measures, Democrats want Republicans to agree not to turn around later in the year and pass a rescissions package cutting some of that same funding.
Republicans recently voted to claw back $9 billion in previously appropriated funding and defunded the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, taking advantage of the legislative loophole that rescissions only require a simple majority in the Senate, not a 60-vote bipartisan supermajority.
Schumer and Jeffries are also pressing for the administration to release funding it has unilaterally held up even though it was allocated by Congress last year.
Republicans have suggested they may seek to pass one or more policy bills before the midterm elections using the arcane reconciliation process, like they successfully did with Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. That measure, which polls say is very unpopular with voters, enacted draconian cuts to health care spending to bankroll tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations.
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