Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is facing difficulties leading the Democrats because they want to shut down the government.
Schumer privately suggested a means to end the shutdown if it happens. However, he publicly condemned the same concept as a strategy to stop the shutdown from happening in the first place, according to Axios.
He was dealing with an “open mutiny” in his own party.
Schumer planned to pass a package that would keep the government running for seven to ten days. This would give Democrats time to talk with Republicans in Congress and President Donald Trump on restoring funds for Obamacare subsidies and other Democratic demands.
The government will run out of money at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday if there is no agreement.
The far left side of Schumer’s party didn’t want any of it.
Greg Casar, a Democratic congressman from Texas and the outspokenly anti-Trump head of the House Progressive Caucus, criticized it in a post on the social media site X.
“Hell no. We don’t need a delay and a pinky promise to negotiate — we need a deal that keeps the government open and saves health care for Americans. I’m in D.C. ready to vote for that. Republicans have refused to come to the table for months. Why would Democrats acting weak change their behavior?” Casar wrote on X.
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The table was set for Schumer when he led a group of Democrats back in March to fund the government and avert a shutdown.
“I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country, to minimize the harm to the American people. Therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down,” Schumer said on the Senate floor at the time.
After Democrats erupted in outrage — and talk spread of leftist New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demolishing Schumer in a Senate primary race — “the best choice for the country” has apparently changed, in Schumer’s mind.
At a news conference on Monday, Schumer was asked about the potential for a short-term funding bill and shot it down.
House Democrats who spoke to Axios were openly scornful of Schumer’s behavior.
“I’m not sure why grandpa is doing this. This just shows how out of touch he is with where the American people are at,” one unnamed Democratic representative told Axios.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is warning that federal agencies are preparing for mass layoffs if Democrats continue to block a stopgap spending bill and allow the government to shut down at the end of the month.
The warning came as Congress neared a Tuesday midnight deadline to avert a shutdown. While the Republican-led House approved a short-term continuing resolution last week, the measure has stalled in the Senate, where Democrats are demanding additional provisions.
“There will be layoffs if Democrats don’t keep the government open,” Leavitt said during the daily press briefing. “We are nearing a government shutdown; we are nearing a funding deadline. The president wants to make this deadline. He wants to keep this government open.”
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Leavitt accused Democratic leaders of playing politics at the expense of federal workers and taxpayers.
“The president is giving Democrat leadership one last chance to be reasonable, to come to the White House today to try to talk about this, and now is not the time to try to get political points against Donald Trump,” she said.
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulated internal guidance to agencies instructing them to prepare reduction-in-force (RIF) plans in case a shutdown takes effect on October 1.
According to the memo, employees working on programs not legally required to continue without appropriations should expect to receive both furlough and RIF notices.
“With respect to those federal programs whose funding would lapse and which are otherwise unfunded, such programs are no longer statutorily required to be carried out,” the guidance stated. “RIF notices should be issued to all employees tied to those programs.”
The memo also directed agencies to revise staffing levels once Congress approves appropriations for fiscal year 2026, retaining only employees necessary for core statutory functions.
In unusually sharp language, the guidance accused Democrats of derailing what has historically been a bipartisan process.
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