As of this morning, there is hope Congress can avoid a government shutdown at midnight because Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) joined Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) in committing to vote “to keep the government open.”
While Senator Schumer acknowledged that he agrees with many of his Democratic colleagues that the spending package House Republicans passed on Tuesday funding the government through September 30th “is a terrible option,” he said he will still vote for it because he believes allowing President Trump “to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
The Senate will begin voting after 1:15 PM today to end debate on the funding bill. Senate Republicans, who control 53 seats, will need six Democratic votes in addition to Senators Schumer and Fetterman to advance the measure because Republican Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said he will vote against the bill because it does not do enough to cut the deficit.