(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was heard “screaming” at her Democratic colleagues over their intention to vote against a Republican-backed government funding bill on Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) indicated that he and his conference are willing to allow the government to shut down on Wednesday rather than vote for the legislation.
“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but 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,” said Schumer on the Senate floor. “Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass.”
The reporting indicates otherwise.
On Thursday afternoon, Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie said that she could hear Gillibrand “screaming so loud we can all hear it through the thick wood doors” as Senate Democrats met to discuss their strategy going forward.
“Keeps yelling at her colleagues about a shutdown,” she added in a follow-up.
Other reporters on Capitol Hill provided additional context.
“I can hear Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) speaking quite loudly inside the Senate Dem lunch. She seems to be making the case against allowing the government to shut down,” tweeted Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio, who added that he “heard Gillibrand say ‘This will not be a normal shutdown.””
Desiderio offered some further analysis of the predicament facing Democrats:
This is the perfect encapsulation of Senate Dems right now. Behind closed doors, most of them seem to agree that a shutdown — especially in this particular moment — could be much more painful (substantively and politically) than any previous shutdown.
But publicly, they want to seem like they’re “fighting” Trump/Republicans.
“You’ll hear from me soon,” Schumer told reporters after the lunch.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) also urged his fellow Democrats to vote for the Republican bill on Wednesday.
“Shut the government down, plunge the country into chaos, risk a recession or exchange cloture for a 30 day CR that 100% fails,” he wrote on X. “The House GOP CR will then pass the Senate because it only needs 51 votes. Total theater is neither honest with constituents nor a winning argument.”
