Schumer Faces GOP Fallout After Shutdown Deal

The government shutdown fight took a major turn in the Senate on Saturday, as lawmakers advanced a funding plan that would keep Washington open past Election Night and into early December. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats gave way on the measure, allowing Republicans to claim a hard-fought win after months of uncertainty over whether Democrats would let the government run out of money.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Schumer’s move looked like a political calculation. He told Fox News Digital that Democrats likely did not want to spend the next three months fending off Republican attacks for threatening to shut the government down. Thune argued that Democrats were reading the political environment closely and trying to avoid a damaging narrative heading into the fall elections. Schumer, meanwhile, framed the vote as a victory for Democrats, saying they had fought for months to keep the government open and secured important concessions from the Trump administration tied to a rule change on federal grants in the bipartisan continuing resolution.

On the Senate floor, Schumer said Democrats wanted to work with Republicans to produce a budget that would serve Americans. He said the continuing resolution would give lawmakers time to finish a budget that would make life more affordable for working families and restrain what he called Trump’s chaos and corruption. Republicans, however, have spent months arguing that congressional Democrats would not hesitate to push the country toward another shutdown if it helped them politically. GOP lawmakers in the Senate have also taken steps meant to make the consequences of a shutdown more personal for members, including agreeing to give up their paychecks if the government closes.

The vote arrived against the backdrop of two past shutdowns that became historic for their length, lasting 43 days and 76 days. That history has shaped the current standoff and sharpened the pressure on both parties. Thune said the latest round of brinkmanship did not appear to favor Democrats politically, especially with elections approaching and uncertainty around federal funding hanging over the debate. He said Democrats likely saw a shutdown threat as something that could hurt their prospects rather than help them.