Senate Democrats are between a rock and a hard place: Hold their noses and vote for Republican legislation that would allow Elmo to continue slashing federal agencies, or risk a costly government shutdown later this week? Of course they’ll fold. Via HuffPost:
The vexing question for the party comes amid pressure from their liberal base that is pushing for tougher resistance to Trump and one of his closest advisers, Elon Musk. The tech billionaire has spearheaded efforts to freeze spending and downsize the federal workforce despite lacking congressional approval, angering civil servants and creating chaos across the government.
At the same time, if enough Democratic senators do not support the House legislation, government funding will almost certainly lapse on Friday at midnight, disrupting government services and resulting in furloughs of federal employees. There’s no telling how long such a shutdown would last since the House recessed on Tuesday and isn’t expected to return until March 24, putting even more pressure on Democrats.
“We’re choosing between awful and terrible,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) acknowledged to reporters on Tuesday.
The six-month funding package, which narrowly passed in the House by 217-213 on Tuesday, largely continues spending at current levels. It would boost defense spending by $6 billion and cut nondefense spending by $13 billion.
