(NewsNation) — It looks like Democrats will have to wait a while longer for party unity. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Thursday night that he would vote for a Republican-sponsored budget bill to avoid a government shutdown, even while calling the legislation “terrible.” It’s the same bill that House Democrats almost unanimously opposed on Tuesday, in part because House Republicans would not negotiate with them.
The bill, called a continuing resolution, would mostly keep current funding levels through September but would add $6 billion for defense spending and cut $13 billion from nondefense programs. Democrats oppose these cuts, which they say would impact health care, veterans, housing, food programs and more.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called Schumer’s decision “a huge slap in the face,” and one that she said leaves her and many Democratic House colleagues feeling betrayed and outraged.
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Ocasio-Cortez made these comments to reporters, including NewsNation, while attending the Issues Conference, a three-day retreat in Leesburg, Virginia, for House Democrats.
Through a series of news conferences at the event, it was clear that House Democrats are trying to hone their message to voters: that they are unified in pushing back against President Donald Trump’s administration while proactively working to make Americans’ lives better.
While the Senate is set to vote on the GOP legislation Friday before the midnight funding deadline, it’s not yet clear whether eight Senate Democrats will join their Republican colleagues and vote for it to pass. But Schumer’s announcement makes it more likely, muddies any sort of unified front and highlights a leadership vacuum in the party.
House Democratic leadership made clear their ire at Schumer’s announcement. Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., released a joint statement late Thursday night saying they remain strongly opposed to “the far-right Republican funding bill,” one they say “will unleash havoc on everyday Americans, giving Donald Trump and Elon Musk even more power to continue dismantling the federal government.”
Ironically, Schumer used similar logic to come to his decision. In a speech on the floor of the Senate, he said, “A shutdown would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now under shutdown.”
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He said the Trump administration would have full authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel nonessential and worried that Republicans in Congress would cherry-pick the agencies and services to reopen, leaving others they don’t like to languish.
But Ocasio-Cortez and many others argue that a shutdown is not inevitable and that a 30-day continuing resolution could pass, allowing the parties to negotiate.
While Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune told NewsNation he’s open to giving Democrats a vote on a 30-day funding bill, the chance of it getting the necessary support from GOP senators is slim.
On this continuing resolution, Republicans have outplayed Democrats, forcing them into a difficult decision: Vote for a bill you believe will hurt Americans, or vote for a government shutdown you believe will hurt Americans.
All hope is not lost for Democrats, though. At the Issues Conference, representatives expressed optimism that they were learning lessons from recent election losses and that they could flip the script on Republicans.
Leading up to November’s elections, Trump and Republicans would ask, “Is your life better today than it was four years ago?”
During a news conference for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., asked, “50 plus days into this administration, do you feel better today than you did 50 days ago?” He believes it’s been chaotic and pointed out the fear some of his constituents have over Trump’s actions, including tariffs.
During the election cycle, the GOP called out Democrats, saying they were too focused on culture-war issues and not on the economy. Dems are now beating that drum in return.
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“I appear to live rent-free in the minds of some of my Republican colleagues. I wish that they would spend even a fraction of the time that they spend thinking about me, thinking about how to lower the costs for American families,” said Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., the first openly transgender member of Congress.
Many members sounded a similar alarm on threats to the economy, housing, education and social safety net programs. Jeffries shared that Democrats would hold a day of action in support of Medicaid, with hundreds of events expected around the country on Tuesday, March 18.
And Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, announced that he and Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, launched a new podcast called “The Fly-In” to talk about politics and maybe even the Dallas Cowboys. He acknowledged podcasts are an important way to communicate with voters who get their news that way and are a messaging tool Democrats did not take enough advantage of last cycle.
Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., said that Democratic strategist James Carville spoke at the conference and advised Democrats to focus their message versus diluting it by responding to everything Trump does.
That message is starting to come into focus. Democrats all share a belief that Trump is not focused on cost-of-living issues and instead, in partnership with Elon Musk, is looking to make cuts to programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security to enact tax breaks for billionaires and corporations.
Democrats just haven’t figured out a unified strategy to fight back. For the sake of their supporters, they need to hurry up.
