Senate Democrats have been teasing the government's closure this week in protest of the Republican-led fundraising bill despite repeatedly stealing repeated fears about the shutdown and criticizing GOP lawmakers for hiring fundraising laws in the past.
“Funding the government is our most fundamental responsibility in Congress,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., said in September.
The House this week passed an ongoing resolution (CR) to keep the government open until October, but Democrats support the law in order to defend the “clean” month suspension bill. Schumer said Wednesday that Republicans “do not have the votes” to pass the House version of the bill.
Democrats are on the verge of allowing the government to close this week, but their past comments reveal that they are criticizing Republicans on the same issue.
Senate Republicans ahead of a critical vote on Trump spending bill
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will speak at a press conference following the weekly Senate Democratic Policy Luncheon held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on December 10, 2024. (Kevin diet)
In September 2024, Schumer warned of the continued impact of the government shutdown.
“If the government is shut down, the average American will suffer the most. A government shutdown means that older people who rely on Social Security can get into chaos,” the Democratic senator said.
“So what's changed?” Trump's quick response team said in a post on X on Thursday along with a resurfaced clip of his remarks.
During the spending bill fight in September, D-fla Rep. Kathy Caster argued that “Maga Republicans have played political games and misused each fund's deadline to enforce the policies of the Radical Project 2025 on Americans, but the livelihoods of American families depend on the balance.”
“This is not a way to govern, but the last thing Florida families need is the government shutdown as Florida people prepare for Hurricane Helen and its difficult aftermath,” Caster said.
Trump-backed bills to avoid government shutdowns pass home despite threats of rebellion
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (Getty Images)
“We are only a few days away from the partial government closure on March 1,” Schumer said in a February 2024 letter. “Unless Republicans get serious, extreme Republican closures put our economy at risk, raise costs, reduce safety and reduce the exact pain of the American people.”
In another example, in 2023, Schumer argued that “closures will have terrible consequences for the country, despite the belief that some of the hard rights are ridiculous to us.”
“It's hard to believe that some people say that the extreme right people in the other room actually want a shutdown,” the New York Democrat said.
D-Calif during a 2018 meeting with President Donald Trump. Rep. Nancy Pelosi also warned against the government shutdown.
“I think Americans realize that we keep our government open and that closures are worthless,” Pelosi told Trump in his oval office.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senators Chuck Schumer agreed in 2018 that the government should not “should not be shut down over conflict.” (Getty Images)
At the same meeting, Schumer, reflecting Pelosi's attitude, told Trump “we should not shut down government over conflict.”
In response to democratic opposition to CR this week, CASTOR told Fox News Digital:
“Let's be clear. Republicans control the White House, Senate and home. This is their confusion, their crisis and their responsibility,” Caster's office said in a statement. “If they want to break through the funding bill that hurts Americans, they'll have to do it on their own.”
R-Okla Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters that if Democrats shut down the government it would be “Schumer's closure.”
Senator Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. (Algora)
A spokesman for Pelosi told Fox News Digital that, given the majority, it is the Republicans' responsibility to fund the government.
“Republicans control the House, Senate and the White House. Democrats are ready to support bipartisan government funding, and are willing to help them fund their government as Republicans are leaving negotiations. Democrats don't have the ability to shut down government,” a spokesman for Pelosi told Fox.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Julia Johnson, Andrew Mark Miller and Remy Numa of Fox News contributed to this report.
