Via Talking Points Memo:
With less than three days to go before the government runs out of cash, Chuck Schumer is calling for a vote on the 30-day continuing resolution that top Democratic appropriators unveiled Monday night. Senate Democrats are struggling with how to move forward after House Republicans shoved through the Trump-backed seven-month continuing resolution on Tuesday.
[…] Senate Democrats will eventually have to make a decision. Support the MAGA CR — with no guardrails against Trump and his billionaire friend’s rampage through the federal government and congressionally approved funds — or allow Republicans to try to blame them for a government shutdown.
And they are well aware of the impossible choice.
“A CR may enable more firings but closing the government may be even more welcome to Elon Musk because it gives him an excuse to fire more people. And he can blame it on the Democrats,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “I’m leaning toward no on the CR because I think it creates a slush fund for Donald Trump without any real guardrails or accountability to the Congress, and we should not be ceding the power of the purse in this way.”
But this is a head fake from Schumer, according to Josh Marshall:
That’s the real story: “The critical point is that it’s handing the GOP the 60 vote threshold for nothing.”
And that means Democrats will lose the ability to filibuster on budget issues for the rest of the year just so Republicans can’t blame them for the shutdown.
https://bsky.app/profile/eschatonblog.com/post/3lk74z4r7zc2g
Call your senators. Tell them to vote NO on cloture.
