Chuck Schumer Leads Senate Dems In Blocking Stopgap Bill to Reopen US Gov: ‘Republicans Tried to Bully Us’
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led his fellow Democratic senators on Wednesday in voting against a stopgap funding bill that would have reopened the U.S. government, with Schumer saying congressional Republicans “tried to bully us” into accepting the deal.
The stopgap bill, which would have kept the federal government open until Nov. 21, had already been passed in the House of Representatives before it was shot down by Senate Dems.
A few liberals broke away from Schumer on the vote, though, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) voting in favor of the bill, as well as Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine.
Schumer, while speaking in the Senate on Wednesday, blamed President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers for a deal not getting done.
“October 1 — the first full day of Donald Trump’s government shutdown. Donald Trump and Republicans have barreled us into a shutdown, because they refuse to protect Americans’ healthcare,” Schumer said. “It’s clear that the way out of this shutdown is to sit down with Democrats to address the looming healthcare crisis that faces tens of millions of American families.”
His comments come a few days after Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) met with Trump in the White House to discuss the looming shutdown. No deal was reached, but President Trump did offer the Dem congressmen some “Trump 2028” hats — which they declined — and some Diet Cokes were drank.
“Republicans tried to bully us, and it’s clear they can’t. They don’t have the votes,” Schumer continued. “The way out of this is for Republicans to finally roll up their sleeves and get to work.”
The Hill, the first outlet to report the news, noted Wednesday’s vote was the third time in the past two weeks that the House-passed stopgap was voted down in the Senate. The stopgap bill needed 60 votes to be approved, but the final vote on Wednesday was 55-45 against it.
You can watch part of Schumer’s speech before the Senate above, via C-SPAN.
