The Democratic Party’s base is demanding that lawmakers do more to counter Donald Trump. But Democrats are signaling they don’t want to use their major leverage point — forcing a government shutdown if the GOP refuses to rein in the president’s war on the federal government.
“My folks don’t want to shut down,” said Rep. Sanford Bishop, a senior appropriator.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal insisted his party needed to “use whatever levers and points of power we have” to extract concessions from the Trump administration. But he added: “I don’t think we should seek a shutdown.”
A spending bill to avert a government shutdown by the March 14 deadline is the one, must-pass piece of legislation that Republicans need Democrats’ help to get over the finish line in the immediate future. Democrats can promise to hold Trump and the GOP accountable through investigations, protests and messaging bills, but none of those things have much bite in the minority.
Still, triggering a shutdown is a tricky card to play: You can’t win a shutdown fight if you’re taking the political blame for the shutdown.
At least one Democrat is opening that door: First-term Sen. Andy Kim said Democrats may be willing to shut down the government over what he called Trump’s “lawlessness” during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer didn’t lean in that much in asubsequent letter to his colleagues Monday morning, saying Republicans would need to work with Democrats to avoid a “Trump shutdown.” Democrats haven’t publicly indicated specific policy concessions they want in return for help passing spending bills, besides mandating no more federal funding freezes.
Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said Monday evening, “we don’t want to see the government shut down.” But if Republicans don’t want to work with Democrats on a bipartisan federal spending deal, “they’re on their own.”
What else we’re watching:
- Mike Johnson’s new budget blueprint: Speaker Mike Johnson is shopping around a revised House budget proposal, we scooped overnight. The new plan, which essentially sidelines House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington, would cut less spending than ultra-conservatives want while also scaling back potential tax cuts.
- Noms latest: Brace for a potential overnight confirmation vote on Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence nominee. Republicans will likely move to end debate on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as HHS secretary at the same time, teeing him up for a confirmation vote later this week. Both controversial nominees look likely to get confirmed, absent last-minute speedbumps.
- Dems and tax help: Seven Democrats in the centrist Blue Dog Coalition are offering to work with the GOP on a “targeted extension” of the GOP’s 2017 tax cuts. While it’s notable that some Democrats are offering to help, the GOP is set on doing this in their party-line bill — at least for now.
Rachael Bade, Meredith Lee Hill and Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.