Schumer says No to House Spending Bill…..

“Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate” to advance the bill.

Still, it is unclear whether the Democrats’ ultimatum will trigger a shutdown when government funding expires at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Democrats have not ruled out striking a deal with Republicans to prevent a shutdown by allowing votes on amendments in exchange for their support….

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NY Times…

…..as House Democratic leaders gathered for a retreat in Virginia on Wednesday, they pleaded with their Senate counterparts to follow their lead and oppose the government funding bill outright.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, called the measure “a power grab that further unleashes and entrenches Elon Musk’s efforts.” He applauded his caucus for sticking together on Tuesday in voting against it and sending a clear message of repudiation for its policies on the House floor. All but one Democrat opposed the measure in the House.

In the Senate, virtually all Democrats are opposed to the stopgap bill, which cleared the House largely along party lines on Tuesday. They view it as an abdication of congressional power and a woefully inefficient way of funding the government while providing Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk more opportunity to slice into federal agencies. They also noted that it broke from an earlier bipartisan deal on both domestic and military spending.

“Instead of writing a bill that gives our communities what they need, they wrote a bill that turns many of our accounts into slush funds,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. The bill, she added, “gives the final say over what gets funding to two billionaires who don’t know the first thing about the needs of our working families.”

She and her fellow Senate Democrats would much prefer to pass the individual spending bills that have been negotiated between the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Appropriations Committees. But House Republicans pulled back from those talks in favor of the decision to freeze most funding through Sept. 30, leaving only two remaining possibilities: blocking the spending bill or approving it.

Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said Democrats should not give in “just because the House decided to leave town on a Tuesday night.”

“That doesn’t mean the Senate shouldn’t be a deliberative body,” he added.

Despite their opposition to the spending plan, top Democrats are leery of forcing the government into a shutdown, fearing the political blowback after years of castigating Republicans for shutdowns.

In addition, Democrats worried that a shutdown would play into the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, empowering them to keep hollowing out federal agencies. Democrats also argued that it remained unclear how any shutdown would end once it began. And they conceded that it could undercut their criticism of the Department of Government Efficiency as an out-of-control buzz saw shredding the government, if they were the ones refusing to extend funding for federal agencies….

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Relenting to Republicans was certain to inflame House Democrats and advocacy groups who were demanding that Senate Democrats remain united against the legislation.

More than 150 progressive and environmental groups on Wednesday sent Senate Democratic leaders a letter urging them to “stand strong until Musk and Trump stop their illegal actions to dismantle key federal programs.”….

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