Congress
Senate Democrats’ impending choice: Shutdown or surrender
Senate Democrats have a fast-approaching dilemma: Vote for a spending bill unilaterally drafted by House Republicans or engage in the kind of shutdown brinkmanship they’ve long opposed.
It isn’t a decision they’ll be able to put off for much longer. House GOP leaders are poised early next week to send a bill to the floor that would largely hold current spending levels in place through the end of September. Democrats don’t like this approach, arguing it would only further empower President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to continue to act beyond their authority in clawing back congressionally approved dollars.
In the House, Democrats are vowing to hold back support, arguing that Republicans are responsible for finding the votes for a continuing resolution, or CR, after walking away from negotiations with the minority party.
“If Republicans decide to take that approach, as Speaker [Mike] Johnson indicated it’s his expectation, then Republicans are going it alone,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Thursday.
It’s not so simple in the Senate, where Democratic leaders are being more careful to avoid promising blanket opposition to a relatively “clean” stopgap bill ahead of the March 14 shutdown deadline. Privately, leaders have urged their members to stay silent and force Republicans to come up with a palatable plan.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, said in a brief interview Thursday he didn’t sense there were enough Democratic senators yet willing to clear a seven-month stopgap — Republicans need at least eight, assuming more GOP lawmakers don’t join Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has pledged to vote no.
Still, when pressed if he would oppose that bill if it was the only option on the table just hours before the shutdown deadline, Durbin hedged, saying that it was premature until he saw what gets through the House.
“Ask me after that,” he added.
While a handful of Democrats indicated in interviews that they are a no, so far Republicans have at least one Democrat on their side: Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who said in a brief interview Thursday that “I’m never going to be a part of any vote that shuts the government down.”
“The fact that anyone on our side would even rattle those sabers, that’s bullshit,” Fetterman said. “To think I’m going to burn the village down to save it, that’s bonkers.”
Roughly a dozen other Senate Democrats declined in interviews this week to say explicitly they would vote against a shutdown-averting bill. Several lawmakers said they want to know for sure that this bill would be the only way to avoid a lapse in federal funding before committing to supporting it. They also said they want to see proof that Speaker Mike Johnson can actually get it through the House.
“There’s enough Senate Republicans who have told us that they support the idea of a short-term CR and completing all the bills,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), adding that before he makes a decision on a House bill, “I want to make sure that play is not available.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) described himself as “anti-shutdown” and that Musk’s ascension “makes it even more perilous to shut down” because it would only further embolden him. But Kaine — who, like Van Hollen, has a large share of federal workers in his state — also declined to say how he would vote on a September funding patch if one comes to the Senate floor.
A group of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate have been quietly talking about a back-up option if the House isn’t able to pass its stopgap bill — not an unthinkable scenario, given the GOP’s razor-thin majority. Several of those Democrats emphasized their preference is to pursue a government funding path that gives space to senior appropriators who still insist they’re close to an agreement on updated agency funding levels.
“We’re real close to a deal,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), an Appropriations Committee member. “We should get that done.”
One option being floated by Democrats is a four- to five-week stopgap to give appropriators more time to land that deal. But Republicans involved in the bicameral negotiations warned that they don’t believe their House counterparts are ready to accept anything other than an extension of current funding levels through the end of the fiscal year.
“My best guess right now is that the House will pass or attempt to pass a full-year CR,” Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters. Asked about the possibility of a shorter stopgap, she added, “I do not think the House is interested in that.”
Mia McCarthy, Lisa Kashinsky, Nicholas Wu and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
With 90 days until the midterms, the DCCC is adding 12 Republican-held districts to its offensive battlefield, bringing its target list up to 58 seats, according to plans shared first with Blue Light News.
The expansion puts several prominent Republicans in Democrats’ sights, notably including Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th, Victoria Spartz in Indiana’s 5th, French Hill in Arkansas’ 2nd, while also adding Tony Gonzales’ now open border seat in Texas’ 23rd, as Democrats bet voter backlash has put even Trump territory in play.
Also on the list: Jeff Hurd in Colorado’s 3rd, Gus Bilirakis in Florida’s 12th, Mike Flood in Nebraska’s 1st, Nick LaLota in New York’s 1st, and a trio of open seats in Nevada’s 2nd, New York’s 21st and Tennessee’s 9th.
The list spans four open seats and reaches NRCC Chair Richard Hudson’s solidly Republican district in North Carolina — likely a bit of trolling from House Democrats.
“House Democrats are expanding the battlefield deep into Trump terrain because we have a winning message focused on fighting for an Affordable America,” said DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene. “At the same time, MAGA Republicans who historically have considered themselves ‘safe’ have let down the people they were elected to represent, passing disastrous policies that are crushing working families and our communities. Democrats are going to win in November and make Hakeem Jeffries the next Speaker of the House.”
Speaker Mike Johnson broke days of silence on explosive allegations of domestic abuse by Rep. Max Miller, calling for investigations to play out as Miller’s former father-in-law, a GOP senator, calls him unfit for office and Republican operatives fret about losing his Ohio House seat.
“I haven’t spoken to Max about this in the last few days. Of course, I will,” Johnson said in an interview for Blue Light News’s “The Conversation” with Dasha Burns. “There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time, it’s not my business to get engaged in it.”
Pressed on the severity of the claims against Miller — which include holding a gun to the head of his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, and breaking the collarbone of his daughter — Johnson called the allegations “serious” but said he would let an Ethics Committee investigation run its course. Miller denies any wrongdoing and called the claims “politically motivated” Tuesday.
“I think Max is taking them seriously. I think our colleagues are,” Johnson said. “But, again, we have to allow this process to play out. It’s just begun.”
The Ethics panel announced Tuesday it would investigate the domestic abuse claims as well as allegations of illegal drug use by Miller, who had requested the probe earlier in the day in a bid to clear his name.
Hours later, in a CNN interview, Miller said, “Speaker Mike Johnson, everyone else — they’re standing behind me.”
Asked about his name being invoked, Johnson said, “I think what Max is suggesting there is that I’ve been intellectually consistent. … We don’t take disciplinary action against members for allegations.”
“It’s, in his own words, a nasty divorce proceeding, and it’s gotten ugly and it’s gotten public,” he added. “But he’s saying the same things privately to members that he is publicly, that he denies all this. … There’s a process. The House Ethics Committee does that. We always withhold judgment on this, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats.”
Johnson’s comments came amid a campaign swing in Phoenix, where he is raising money for a pair of key races and touting legislative victories just months before the midterms. But he was also forced to address controversies plaguing Republican members that have snowballed as he and other leaders have largely stayed silent.
Johnson was more candid about the sexual harassment charges faced by Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina, who is facing a censure recommendation from the Ethics Committee. The panel concluded in a report issued Monday that he engaged in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers,” lavishing them with gifts and inundating them with unwanted texts, calls and invitations.
Edwards cooperated with the probe and did not challenge the factual findings, but his lawyers argued they did not rise to the level of censure.
In the interview, Johnson said those, too, are “serious allegations” and that he spoke with Edwards briefly Tuesday. He said he plans to talk to Edwards again soon about his reelection plans.
Like Miller, Edwards is facing a vigorous and well-financed Democratic challenger in a district that usually trends Republican but is unusually competitive this year due to the national political environment and the incumbents’ ethical challenges.
Asked if Edwards should drop his reelection bid, Johnson said, “He’s got to make a big decision, and I hope he does the right thing for him and his family.” As for Miller’s seat, he said, “I’m confident we’ll hold that district.”
Johnson noted that unlike with Miller, the Ethics Committee has completed its process, even though Edwards has contested the findings endorsed by the bipartisan panel.
“So we have to let our colleagues decide the fate of that,” Johnson said. The House could vote as soon as September on the censure recommendation.
Johnson said he also plans to speak with Miller. The Ohio lawmaker has until the end of this week to drop out if Republicans want to replace his name on the ballot.
The pressure on him to drop out exploded Sunday after his ex-father-in-law, Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, broke months of silence and denounced Miller, saying he needed “professional help” and should not continue serving in the House. Several other Republicans followed suit — though not Johnson or other senior House GOP leaders.
Miller and Johnson have had a testy relationship in recent months. Miller told Blue Light News in May that he would not vote again for Johnson as speaker and that he “divided us with a smile.”
“I wouldn’t trust him to get out of a wet paper bag with an M4,” he said of Johnson at the time.
Asked to respond in the interview, Johnson said, “I think you could ask every other Republican — they would tell you that’s not true.”
“Max has had a lot of issues in his life. I don’t return fire. That doesn’t bother me. And there’s a lot of criticism that comes with the job,” Johnson continued. “I’m not going to use this situation to say something negative about him.”
Miller, a former aide to President Donald Trump, said in the BLN interview that Trump called him Monday and said “it’s going to be a tough race” but did not insist he drop out. Miller went on to say he would take a page out of Trump’s book from the 2016 presidential election and carry on with his campaign.
Johnson said he was not positioned to intervene if Miller continues his campaign.
“I mean, [the allegations] don’t look good right now, of course. But again, what should a speaker do in this case?” he said. “I call out alarming behavior. I try to work every day on decorum and on the ethics of the House.”
“Look, I pine for the days when we don’t have these kinds of disturbances, when we got people who act in accordance with the dignity of their office. But people have domestic disputes,” he continued. “It’s part of being flawed humans, as we are, and we have to let those processes play out.”
President Donald Trump pressured Republican senators to make daylight saving time permanent Tuesday evening, amid stalled progress in the chamber on one of the president’s pet issues.
“This is an issue that Republicans, Democrats, and Independents can unite behind,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post. “I am asking Republican Senators to release their holds, and allow the hotline to clear on the Republican side.”
The bill, which would end the bi-annual changing of the clocks observed in most states, passed the House in July despite protests from members of both parties. The president has dedicated significant personal attention lobbying for the bill, and has claimed that the vast majority of Americans support such a change.
But the effort has faced an uphill battle in the Senate, with multiple GOP senators expressing doubts about the change. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has opposed previous efforts to tack on the added hour of sunlight in the evening year-round, and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) — another member of Senate GOP leadership — has also long opposed the change.
The issue has found supporters in Florida lawmakers, whose state chief moneymaking industries — tourism, recreation, restaurants and golfing — stand to benefit from the change. But lawmakers from agriculture-heavy states have been wary of pushing back sunrise an hour later for farmers, while others have said they fear the potential risks more darkness in the morning would pose for mental health, public safety and sleep habits.
Trump, however, touted the benefits such a change would bring Tuesday: He said it would “Decrease Robbery and Murder Rates, Reduce Car Accidents (especially those involving Pedestrians!), Lower Risk for Cardiac Issues, Stroke, and Seasonal Depression, Make It Safer for Children to Walk Home from School, Increase Time with your Family,” among others.
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