Tag Archive for: Senate Democrats

Chuck Schumer Lays Groundwork For Government Shutdown

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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is signaling he could plunge the country into a partial government shutdown if Republicans move forward with rescinding just a fraction of a percent of government spending.

The Senate is expected to vote on a request from the White House to claw back $1.1 billion in public broadcasting funding and $8.3 billion in foreign aid next week. Schumer has threatened that Democrats will reject a government funding deal for the upcoming fiscal year if Republicans pass President Donald Trump’s $9.4 billion rescission package, which could trigger a partial government shutdown at the end of September.

“Ask the Republicans why they are heading on this path,” Schumer said at a Senate Democratic leadership press conference Wednesday in response to a question citing his previous warnings about the alleged harmful effects of letting government funding lapse. “We are doing everything we can to keep the bipartisan appropriations process going. And they’re undermining it with rescissions, with pocket rescissions, with impoundment and every other way.”

Schumer’s implicit shutdown threat is a noticeable departure from his decision to avert a lapse in government funding in March by supplying the votes to pass a Trump-backed stopgap spending bill. The Democratic leader’s decision to avoid a government shutdown earlier in the year infuriated the party’s base, leading Schumer to postpone a scheduled book tour. Elected Democrats across the country criticized his leadership.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized Schumer’s recent remarks appearing to use the rescissions package as leverage in the anticipated government funding showdown later this year. Schumer wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter Tuesday warning of “consequences that will be felt far beyond the halls of power” if Republicans claw back funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid.

“I was disappointed to see the Democrat leader … implicitly threaten to shut down the government,” Thune said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “But I’m hopeful that that is not the position of the Democrat Party, the Democrat conference here in the Senate, and that we can work together in the coming weeks to pass bipartisan appropriations bills.”

“Funding the government is our chief priority before October, but that won’t stop us from considering additional measures,” Thune said, in an implicit reference to the rescissions package.

Thune is up against a July 18 deadline to pass the rescissions package, which is subject to a simple majority vote. Failure to approve the clawback request by that timeline would force the president to spend the money as originally directed by lawmakers.

The House cleared the clawback measure 214 to 212 in June with four GOP lawmakers joining Democrats in opposing the rescissions package.

Though several moderate Senate Republicans have voiced concerns about rescinding some of the proposed DOGE cuts, some in the conference are warning that failure is not an option and that Senate Republicans must meet the July 18 deadline. The $9.4 billion rescissions request would be the first DOGE cuts codified by Congress out of the roughly $175 billion identified by the president’s cost-cutting commission.

“I think if the Republicans in the United States Senate do not pass the rescission package, after all the rhetoric about reducing spending, then they should hide their head in the bag,” Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy told reporters Tuesday. “And I think the White House will provide the bag.”

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

GOP Effort To Strip Illegal Immigrants Of Taxpayer-Funded Benefits Fails In Senate

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Senate Democrats moved to block Republican efforts Monday evening to strip illegal immigrants of taxpayer-funded benefits within President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill.

The Senate voted 56 to 44 on an amendment from Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn that would have reduced federal Medicaid payments to states who offer health care to illegal immigrants charged or convicted of serious crimes. Though four Senate Democrats bucked their party to back the measure, the amendment failed to clear a 60-vote threshold and will therefore not be included in the president’s sweeping tax and immigration-focused bill.

“[Forty-three] Democrats just BLOCKED my amendment to punish states that give Medicaid benefits to illegal aliens convicted or charged with crimes like murder or sex trafficking,” Cornyn wrote in a statement on the social media platform X following the failed vote. “Democrats chose to side with the worst of the worst in our society over our seniors and most vulnerable American citizens. Disgusting.”

Senators are currently engaged in a marathon session of voting, known as a “vote-a-rama,” to shape the final bill through amendments before a vote on final passage.

The four Senate Democrats who crossed the political aisle to back the measure include Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada and Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff of Georgia. Ossoff is widely viewed as the most vulnerable Democratic senator running for reelection, though the Georgia Republicans have yet to unite around a challenger.

Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a skeptic of some of the bill’s reforms to Medicaid, joined Democrats in voting “no” on Cornyn’s amendment.

Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth Senate term, is in the middle of a contentious reelection fight against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the 2026 GOP nomination.

The incumbent senator introduced the amendment following Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s determination that the provision violated the upper chamber’s so-called budget reconciliation rules. Cornyn said Thursday that he would not let a “unelected Senate staffer” stop Republicans from passing Trump’s policy priorities into law.

Republicans are using the so-called budget reconciliation process to steer around Democratic opposition and clear the president’s domestic policy bill by a simply majority vote.

Provisions that MacDonough strikes from the bill would be subject to a 60-vote threshold and would need some Democratic buy-in to pass.

Senate Democrats, led by Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the upper chamber’s budget panel, argued Cornyn’s amendment would lead to “the collective punishment of American citizens” by reducing federal Medicaid funding to Medicaid expansion states who provide coverage to illegal immigrants.

This is a backdoor [elimination] for 41 states, which includes the majority of Republican states, to reduce the federal match from 90% to 80% with huge, huge impact on the coverage of individuals across this country,” Merkley said on the Senate floor Monday.

“What happened to states’ rights,” Merkley continued in defense of blue states offering free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

Senate Democrats also blocked an amendment Monday offered by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn that would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving coverage through state-funded Medicaid programs.

The Senate version of the president’s landmark bill could pass the upper chamber as early as Monday. Trump is demanding the legislation on his desk for signature by his self-imposed deadline of July 4.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Congressional Reporter.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Next’: Schumer Dodges Simple Question About Medicaid For Illegal Immigrants

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Senate Rejects Dem Effort Defending Illegal Migrant Criminals

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The Senate on Thursday afternoon voted down a resolution from Senate Democrats to require President Donald Trump’s State Department to write a report on El Salvador’s human rights practices — in light of the administration’s deportation of illegal migrant criminals.

Senators voted along party lines — 50 to 45 — to reject the motion to discharge the resolution, led by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Alex Padilla of California and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senate Republicans sharply criticized the effort as “pure political theater” and another example of their Democratic colleagues defending illegal migrant criminals and obstructing the president’s deportation agenda.

The resolution also required the State Department to report any steps the administration is taking to comply with a court order to “facilitate” the return of reputed MS-13 gangbanger and human trafficker, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The El Salvadoran national has been named in two domestic abuse cases against his wife and has been accused of trafficking illegal migrants across state lines.

Van Hollen referred to Abrego Garcia as his “constituent” on the Senate floor Thursday prior to the vote. Van Hollen was the first Democratic lawmaker to travel to El Salvador in April to protest his deportation and advocate for his return to the United States.

“I have made very clear from the start that I’m not vouching for Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said Thursday. “I am vouching for his rights, because if you deny his rights, you put in jeopardy the rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America.”

Senate Republicans torched Democrats for forcing a vote on the resolution.

“Senator Van Hollen says he does not ‘vouch’ for Garcia, yet he’s one of many Democrats who visited Garcia in El Salvador,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “What they’re proposing is to shield illegal immigrant criminals from deportation and help them evade arrest.”

“This [Kilmar Abrego Garcia] is who Democrats are defending – not just that one individual, but that whole style of behavior that has now impacted every community in America,” Barrasso continued.

“I’m frustrated why we have to have extensive due process for folks who ignore due process to come here,” Republican Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “This is a very curious turn of constitutionality from folks who had no concern about the constitutionality of millions of people coming here illegally.”

Senate Republicans also noted that their Democratic colleagues have largely rejected efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the 119th Congress.

Just 12 Senate Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act, the first piece of legislation Trump signed into law during his second term. The law requires the detention of illegal migrants accused, charged or convicted of an array of criminal offenses.

Similarly, no Senate Democrats in April supported Republicans’ budget resolution unlocking historic amounts of funding to fast-track the president’s deportation agenda.

“What they should be doing is taking their energy to work with us to improve the economy, to make the country safer, to reduce government spending — that’s what they should be doing,” Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno told the DCNF. “This stuff is just total nonsense.”

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.