(Bloomberg) -- Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party would block a Republican spending bill to avert a government shutdown on Saturday and urged the GOP to accept a Democratic plan to provide funding through April 11 instead.
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Schumer’s declaration Wednesday raised the stakes in an ongoing game of chicken between congressional Republicans and Democrats and appeared to heighten the risk of a shutdown at a time financial markets are hyper-sensitive to new disruption.
US stocks have been whipsawed by President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats and fears that consumer and business uncertainty are already a drag on the US economy.
Yet it’s unclear whether Schumer can muster support from moderate Democrats to carry out the threat, much less sustain a blockade over an extended shutdown — which could cause political blowback and hurt already embattled federal workers.
“Republicans do not have the votes,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday, laying down Democrats’ stand on the House-approved legislation.
Yet by Wednesday evening, there were signs that a deal could be worked out to avoid a shutdown.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he was open to allowing Democrats a vote on a short-term spending bill if they give consent to all final votes on the House measure, known as a continuing resolution, before the deadline.
“In the end, we want to fund the government. Hopefully they do, too. And the way to do that is to pass the CR,” Thune said, referring to the abbreviation for the legislation, known as a continuing resolution. “If they want to set up some sort of a consent agreement where we vote on that, we’ll see.”
In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to cut off procedural obstacles and Republicans only have 53 senators in the chamber.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said he believed Schumer was bluffing. “We aren’t going to do a short term bill,” he said.
Democrats’ most dedicated and active voters are clamoring for a confrontation to constrain Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to dismantle entire federal agencies. But many moderates want to wait and let Trump fail on economic matters without getting in his way. A government shutdown could also shift some of the blame for an increasingly shaky economy onto Democrats.