Democrats Want to Avoid an Election Season Shutdown

Democrats only have one major leverage point left against the Trump administration — and they’re not about to use it.

With Congress approaching a government funding cliff at the end of September, key Senate Democrats signaled they want to take the threat of a government shutdown off the table. Several told NOTUS this week that they are open to a short-term stopgap spending measure to get through the election.

“If we can come up with a good bipartisan [continuing resolution], that would be great,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told NOTUS.

Last year, Democrats forced a record-breaking 43-day government shutdown over expiring Obamacare tax credits, and earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security was shut down for months due to a fight over immigration enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding.

But on the verge of an election in which Democrats hope to retake power in the Capitol, they seem ready to punt the issue.

“We certainly want to avoid a government shutdown, and Democrats have been very clear about that,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told NOTUS on Wednesday. Van Hollen was one of the Democrats last year who blocked GOP attempts to reopen the government during the record-breaking shutdown. “We hope that Republicans will negotiate in good faith.”

Democrats in both chambers bristled at the opening salvo in funding negotiations from the GOP last week. House Republicans passed a short-term funding package that would kick the shutdown deadline to December. Democrats have panned the bill, arguing it doesn’t include adequate restrictions on how Trump administration officials could move funding around. Democrats have also laid out a red line that they will not approve additional funding for ICE without concessions on reforms from the White House.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington), the top Democrat on the Appropriations panel, said Wednesday that she is working with Senate Republicans to draft a short-term funding measure into December that would “fix the problems with the bill that the House Republicans drafted.” Republicans need the support of at least seven Senate Democrats to pass any government funding package to avoid a filibuster.

“No one wants a shutdown in October,” Murray said.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama), another member of the Appropriations Committee, told NOTUS this week that she is “cautiously optimistic” about the status of government funding talks.

“I appreciate at this point people engaging in a meaningful way, which truly seems to be what’s occurring,” Britt said.

Murray said Wednesday that a short-term deal would give lawmakers time to negotiate full spending bills for 2027. The government will shut down at the end of September without the passage of spending bills or a stopgap measure.

Progressive grassroots groups have heavily criticized congressional Democrats for failing to stand up to the Trump administration, urging them to get more aggressive in opposing the president’s budget.

“Democrats should use every ounce of leverage they have to protect their constituents and lower costs for working families — including continuing to hold the line against any additional funding for ICE or Border Patrol without ironclad guardrails,” Andrew O’Neill, director of advocacy at the progressive group Indivisible, said in a statement.

Pushing some Democrats toward a bipartisan compromise is the threat from Republican leaders to use the budget reconciliation process to fund the government. Reconciliation requires just a majority vote for passage and skips a potential filibuster in the Senate. Republicans earlier this year used that process to fund ICE and Border Protection, despite Democratic objections. That move would cut Democrats out of the funding talks altogether.

“It’s a bit of a pick-your-poison moment,” said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, acknowledging concerns about another Republican reconciliation package.

But other Democrats are still grappling with how to proceed on government funding given the Trump administration’s recent admission in court that it canceled grants for clean energy programs that Congress approved solely based on whether states voted for Trump in the 2024 election.

“We now know this unequivocally, that the president of the United States is withholding money from states for purely political reasons, not any other reason, and New Jersey is being shortchanged significantly,” said New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. “This is unconscionable what’s happening right now.”