‘Tremendous mistake’: Democrats turn on each other in fight over Trump ‘slush fund’
Washington: The US government has once again been saved from a shutdown at the last minute when Democratic senators signed up to a Republican bill to keep funds flowing – but the process exposed deep divisions in the Democratic Party as it grapples with how to fight the Trump administration.
Veteran Democrat and former speaker Nancy Pelosi openly attacked Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday (AEDT) after he announced his support for the Republican-led spending bill, while a chorus of younger representatives also voiced their frustration with the direction of the party under its present leadership.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer at the Capitol on Friday.Credit: AP
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank cheque that makes a devastating assault on the wellbeing of working families across America,” Pelosi said. “Let’s be clear: neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable.”
Pelosi praised the party’s leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, who led an overwhelming rejection of the Republican bill in that chamber. However, a total of 10 Democrats including Schumer backed procedural motions allowing the bill to pass the Senate late on Friday to avert the shutdown.
Government shutdowns have become an increasingly regular feature of US politics, and are seen as a symbol of political game-playing in Washington. They occur when Congress fails to pass appropriation bills necessary to keep public agencies funded, and often involve debates over whether to keep increasing the US debt ceiling.
When the government is shut down, non-essential federal workers are furloughed and many operations are closed. The longest on record, 34 days, occurred during Trump’s first term, when he demanded that a spending bill include billions of dollars for his wall along the Mexican border.
Former speaker Nancy Pelosi in the US Capitol earlier this month.Credit: AP
This time, Schumer argued that while the Republican bill – known as a continuing resolution – was bad, “it’s a whole lot worse to vote to shut down the government” given the agenda of those in charge.
“Elon Musk, DOGE [the department of government efficiency] and Donald Trump will use the power to shut down the government to fire hundreds of thousands if not millions of workers, shut down whole departments, and shrink the government for tax cuts for billionaires,” Schumer said.
“It will be devastating, something like we have never seen before … they could stay in shutdown for weeks, months, even years.”
Schumer raised the spectre of the courts running out of money within weeks, depleting Democrats and other interest groups of one of the main tools they have to fight the impulses and decisions of the administration.
Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not agree with Chuck Schumer’s approach.Credit: AP
But that did not persuade Pelosi, or younger Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman from New York who said Schumer was making a “tremendous mistake”.
“This [bill] turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” she told CNN.
“It sacrifices congressional authority and it is deeply partisan. To me, it is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand one of the few pieces of leverage we have away for free.”
Ocasio-Cortez pushed an alternative House Democrat proposal that would have extended funding for just 30 days, rather than six months.
President Donald Trump walks with Elon Musk’s son X Æ A-Xii to his helicopter on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday.Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
The White House spruiked the bill following its passage late on Friday, US time, noting it contained $US485 million for migrant deportations and another $136 million for immigration prisons, as well as funding for the Coast Guard, veterans’ benefits and air traffic control operations.
President Donald Trump said he was impressed by Schumer, who “did the right thing”. The president was expected to sign the bill into law from his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, having left Washington on Friday evening joined by Musk, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior advisers.
Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House, declined to explicitly support Schumer on Friday. Asked whether it was time for new leadership in the Senate, he said: “Next question.”
Asked whether Schumer had acquiesced to Trump, Jeffries replied: “That’s a question that is best addressed by the Senate.”
He said he and Schumer had spoken numerous times during the week, but the contents of those conversations would remain private.
The episode has highlighted Democratic divisions and a party that is yet to regroup from its loss to Trump in November. MoveOn, a progressive group that claims nearly 10 million members nationwide, predicted its activists would demand answers from Democratic officials in coming days.
Spokesman Joel Payne said clearing the way for Trump and Musk to “gut” Social Security and Medicare was unacceptable. “It’s past time for Democrats to fight and stop acting like it’s business as usual,” he said.
with AP
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