Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday would not rule out backing President Donald Trump’s demand for a “clean” stopgap funding bill to avert a partial federal shutdown, even after Democrats rejected the GOP-backed measure last week.
“Look, we hope it doesn’t come to that,” the New York Democrat said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The American people are on our side by almost 2 to 1.”
Schumer and most of his caucus opposed the House-passed bill Friday, instead backing their own version that tied government funding to healthcare provisions and limits on Trump’s ability to freeze spending. Both measures failed in the Senate.
He told anchor Dana Bash that Senate Democrats are hoping Trump will negotiate with them, but “so far he hasn’t.”
“We must get a better bill than what they had last time,” Schumer said.
Congress faces a Sept. 30 midnight deadline to pass a funding measure or trigger a partial shutdown. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers, but need Democratic support in the Senate to clear a 60-vote threshold.
In March, Schumer faced sharp backlash from progressives for allowing another GOP stopgap to pass, with critics threatening a 2028 primary challenge. On Sunday, he defended the current standoff as different, saying, “This is a demand from the American people across the board.”
Both Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., are demanding concessions, including preservation of Affordable Care Act subsidies expiring at the end of 2025, reversal of Medicaid reforms in the GOP’s Working Families Tax Cut Act, and restored funding for public health research.
Trump has pushed Republicans to back a “clean” continuing resolution through Nov. 21 but said he is open to meeting with Democratic leaders. “I’d love to meet with them, but I don’t think it’s going to have any impact,” he told reporters Sunday at the White House.
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