Donald Trump doesn’t put up with the partisan games in Congress. He wants results.
And now President Trump has cornered Senate Democrats, forcing them to make a massive decision.
Senate Democrats Face Crucial Decision on Government Funding Bill as Shutdown Looms
With a potential government shutdown set to begin after midnight on March 14, 2025, Senate Democrats find themselves at a crossroads. They must decide whether to back a House Republican-supported government funding bill or risk bearing the responsibility for a partial government closure. The Senate is preparing to vote on a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), designed to keep government operations running through the end of the fiscal year. However, with the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold in play, Republican senators are placing the pressure squarely on their Democratic counterparts to either support the bill or face the consequences of a shutdown.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming has been vocal in framing the stakes. “Republicans will ensure law enforcement gets their paychecks. Democrats seem more interested in playing political games,” he wrote in an op-ed published Monday. “Shutting down the government is not an outcome President Trump wants. It is not an outcome Senate Republicans want. It costs money to shut down the government. And it costs more money to reopen the government.” Barrasso went further, accusing Democrats of negligence. “Shutdown Democrats are acting irresponsibly,” he added. “They are failing American taxpayers, failing our service members, and failing our border patrol agents. If there is a shutdown, it will be driven by and directed by the Democrats.”
The House GOP leadership introduced the 99-page stopgap bill on Saturday, crafted in close collaboration with the Trump administration. The legislation aims to reduce overall government spending compared to the previous fiscal year while increasing allocations for defense, veterans’ healthcare, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
The proposal has garnered strong support among both House and Senate Republicans, though a few dissenters remain. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie are seen as firm opponents, while Representatives Cory Mills of Florida and Tony Gonzales of Texas have expressed reservations. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, remains confident that these lawmakers will ultimately support the bill ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s procedural vote.
President Trump has taken a hard stance against dissent within his party, singling out Massie in a Monday Truth Social post. Trump threatened to back a primary challenger against the Kentucky representative for his pledged “no” vote, noting that the CR lacks proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts and continues funding for agencies like USAID, which his administration has targeted for elimination.
With the House GOP holding a slim 218-214 majority, Johnson can lose only one Republican vote if all Democrats are present and vote against the bill, as House Democratic leadership has pledged to do. “Here’s the bottom line: if congressional Democrats refuse to support this clean CR, they will be responsible for every troop that misses a paycheck, for every flight delay from reduced staffing at TSA, for every negative consequence that comes from shutting down the government,” Johnson declared at the House GOP leadership conference on Tuesday.
Should the House pass the CR, the focus will shift to the Senate, where Democrats have criticized the bill but have not yet committed to opposing it outright. Political analyst Brit Hume, speaking on Fox News Monday, suggested that Senate Democrats could face significant repercussions if they block the measure. “It’ll be pretty plainly obvious that by refusing to provide a handful of votes, they cause the government shutdown,” Hume said. “So I’m not sure they’ll be able to escape it this time, but we’ll see if they’re going to try.”
Senate Democrats’ reluctance to clarify their stance may stem from concerns about the political fallout of triggering a shutdown. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden told reporters, “I’m obviously going to look [at the CR]. The Republicans have put us in this horrendous situation. It’s hard to do the blame game for it.” Meanwhile, Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen deflected responsibility back to Republicans. “Let’s see what the House actually passes,” she shared in a statement. “Trump has the White House, and they have both houses of Congress. This would be a Trump shutdown. Nobody wants that. They need to come to the table. Work with us on something that works.”
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly expressed frustration with the process but stopped short of rejecting the bill. “Government shutdowns are really bad,” he shared. “CRs are bad. This is not the way we should run a government.” New Jersey Senator Andy Kim, meanwhile, evaded CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday when pressed on whether he would support the CR, dodging what Tapper called a “simple question.” Kim has previously hinted that Democrats should leverage the funding deadline to limit the Trump administration’s cost-cutting plans.
To pass the Senate, the CR will need at least eight Democratic votes alongside Republican support. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman has indicated he will back the bill, providing at least one Democratic vote. Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin expressed optimism about Republican numbers but stressed the need for bipartisan cooperation. “I think we’ll be able to put 51-52 on the board, and then we can’t do it alone,” he noted. “So if Schumer doesn’t want to support us, then it becomes a Schumer shutdown at this point. We have to have the Democratic support in the Senate.” Mullin added, “If the Democrats want to shut us down, that’s in their control.”
Notably, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, during his tenure as majority leader in the 118th Congress, declined to bring bipartisan appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025—passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee—to the floor, a decision that has complicated the current negotiations.
As the March 14 deadline approaches, the choices made by Senate Democrats will determine whether the government remains operational or plunges into a costly and disruptive shutdown, with both sides bracing for the political consequences that will follow.
The Federalist Wire will keep you updated on any major news coming out of the U.S. Senate.
