Democrats Dig In Against GOP Funding Bill, Increasing Odds Of Shutdown

The prospect of a government shutdown grew on Thursday after nearly a dozen Democratic senators came out against a GOP funding package.

WASHINGTON ― Nearly a dozen Senate Democrats made clear their opposition to Republican legislation funding the government for six months, making a lapse in appropriations more likely beginning Friday at midnight.

Their announcements followed three straight days of contentious debate behind closed doors about whether to accept a bill that would allow President Donald Trump to continue dismantling the government as he sees fit or withhold support, resulting in a shutdown that would give the Trump administration power to decide which federal agencies remain open or closed, perhaps for good.

“I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) said in a statement. “I cannot give permission for inflation-causing tariffs and firing thousands of veterans, things that are already having devastating effects on Arizonans and Americans.”

Kelly was joined by other centrists calling for the Senate to take up a monthlong funding patch instead, including Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).

Hickenlooper appeared to be struggling with a decision he called “impossible” all week but ultimately came out against the bill in protest of Trump unilaterally gutting federal agencies and freezing spending without congressional approval.