Dozens of House Democrats signed on to a pair of letters to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday, urging him to oppose the House GOP’s government funding bill as the upper chamber prepares to take a key procedural vote on the measure.
The full-court press comes one day after Schumer broke with House Democrats and announced he would vote to advance the continuing resolution — crafted by House GOP lawmakers — prompting outrage throughout the Democratic Party.
In one letter, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, Democrats on the panel said “we urge our Democratic colleagues in the Senate to reject the partisan and harmful continuing resolution,” arguing it “will only serve to enable President Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republican Party’s ongoing efforts to unilaterally and unlawfully destroy the agencies and programs that serve the American people.”
Twenty-one Democrats signed the letter.
“Congressional Democrats must defend the rights and powers of the offices we were elected to hold. Congressional Democrats must fight for our constituents and for the American people against a White House that sees itself as above the law,” they wrote. “We urge all Senate Democrats to stand with House Democrats and with the American people, reject this continuing resolution, and force House and Senate Republicans back to the negotiating table so we can pass full-year funding bills that shield our investments in the American people from the Trump Administration.”
A second letter, led by Rep. Derek Tran (D-Calif.) and signed by 66 House Democrats, sounded a similar note, noting their “strong opposition to the passage” of the House GOP’s stopgap.
“The Republican leadership has deliberately cut Democrats out of the process, and we must not give in to Republican hostage-taking of our vulnerable seniors, veterans, and working-class families to advance their destructive funding bill,” they wrote. “If Republicans in Congress want to pass this bill, they should do so with their own votes.”
Instead of moving ahead, the House Democrats are urging their Senate counterparts to block the GOP’s spending bill and demand a vote on a 30-day continuing resolution, which would buy both parties more time to hash out bipartisan negotiations on full-year spending bills.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a key procedural vote on the House GOP’s spending bill Friday afternoon.
While final passage of the legislation calls a simple majority vote, Senate Republicans need at least 60 votes to advance that measure, which requires Democratic assistance.
Schumer announced on Thursday that he would back the legislation, arguing that a shutdown would be more harmful than the contents of the bill. Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) have joined him.
With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expected to oppose the legislation, Republicans need at least eight Democrats to join them in advancing the bill.
