The leading Democrats in the House are ramping up the pressure on Senate Democrats to oppose the GOP’s spending bill, warning that the proposal would slash crucial public services to vulnerable populations across the country.
Huddled at their annual strategy retreat in Leesburg, Va., the leaders implored their Senate counterparts to use their filibuster power to sink the bill when it comes up for a vote later this week.
“House Democrats are very clear: We’re asking Senate Democrats to vote no on this continuing resolution, which is not clean, and it makes cuts across the board,” Rep. Ted Lieu (Calif.), the vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters at the Lansdowne Resort.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the lobbying is happening not only through the press. House Democrats are also in direct talks with Senate Democrats ahead of the vote in the upper chamber, he said.
“Our ongoing conversations with Senate Democrats, from the leadership all the way through the members of the Senate that we regularly work with, are continuing,” Jeffries said. “The House Democratic position is crystal clear as evidenced by the strong vote of opposition that we took yesterday on the House floor opposing the Trump-Musk-Johnson reckless Republican spending bill.”
Jeffries emphasized that opposing the GOP bill would not guarantee a shutdown, since Democrats in both chambers have teed up a third option: A 30-day CR designed to allow bipartisan negotiators more time to seal a deal on a 2025 spending package.
“There is an alternative for the senators, Democrats and Republicans, to consider,” Jeffries said. “It is a four-week clean continuing resolution that gives both the House and the Senate — Democrats and Republicans — the ability to try to reach an agreement that actually meets the needs of the country and does not hurt everyday Americans.”
The pressure campaign seems to have borne fruit. While Senate Democrats had appeared poised to provide enough votes to shepherd the Republicans’ partisan bill through the upper chamber — if only out of fear that President Trump and Elon Musk might exploit a shutdown to advance their efforts to gut the federal government — Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced Wednesday afternoon that they would demand a vote on the 30-day CR. Until they get it, Schumer warned, Democrats would oppose the Republicans’ House-passed legislation.
“Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input from congressional Democrats. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR [continuing resolution],” he said.
House Democrats were virtually united against the Republicans’ spending bill when it hit the floor Tuesday evening, when Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — with a big assist from Trump — muscled the bill through the House by a vote of 217 to 213. The bill extends government funding, largely at 2024 levels, through September.
The one Democratic defection was Rep. Jared Golden (Maine), who said a government shutdown would be worse than the GOP proposal.
Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), the Democratic whip, had played a leading role in convincing rank-and-file Democrats to oppose the measure. She said the unity displayed by House Democrats should inspire Senate lawmakers to take the same position.
“We’re standing on the side of working families, and that’s why our message to the Senate is also: Stand with us on that side,” Clark said. “And we think that our vote gives the Senate the strength and the message that they need to stand up as well.”
Support from Senate Democrats would not only send the bill to Trump’s desk, it would also undermine the Democrats’ message that the proposal is toxic to working-class families.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said no Democrats should vote for it.
“I don’t know why anyone would support that bill,” he said.
Updated at 4:18 p.m.