Cnn
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Washington Democrats finally have a first lever point against the president Donald Trump – But it comes with a dilemma that could let them look even more unhappy than they have so far during their second term.
The pressure point arises on a draft financing law of the temporary government which could covered the president’s antigovation purge and as a democratic elector, pinch your legislators To show a little fight.
Before a critical vote in the Senate, democratic leaders face a paradoxical choice: should they prevent the government from saving it? This bet could be accompanied by a significant drawback because closed agencies and thousands of federal workers on leave could be even more vulnerable to the metaphorical chainsaw expressed by Elon Musk.
The choices of the Democrats will take place in a context of increasing frustration of progressives, whose despair after the 2024 elections turned into horror while Trump has turned Washington over the first 50 days in power and began to fracture the liberal world order which prevailed for 80 years.
Democrats have greatly made fun of their ineffective demonstrations which underlined their helplessness during the joint address of Trump in the congress earlier this month, when some wore Dress coordinated by color and others Make the paddles bearing anti-Trump slogans.
Pennsylvania’s Democrat volunteer, Bobbi Erickson, wants his party leaders to be much more aggressive to face Trump. “We look at the Constitution burn. We look at the country that we like to be systematically dismantled, “Eva McKend said Eva McKend, whose recent trip to the Commonwealth revealed extreme impatience among basic Democrats.
Back in Washington, party leaders have the chance to show steel.
History shows that the Republicans generally obtain the blame for the type of partial closure of the government which will start at midnight Friday Unless the Senate approves New expenses to keep it open.
But Trump and Musk, with their amazing movements shred the federal machinehave scrambled political logic, leaving the two parties to play new calculations which have changed the policy of closure dramas.
The House of Representatives has put in place the punch of the GOP by adopting a bill to freeze expenses at current levels until the end of September – while adjusting where money is allocated to prioritize Trump’s priorities, such as the application of borders. The room then quickly left the city, leaving the disorder so that the Senate was settled.
Democrats fear that this Stopgap bill will simply provide an additional six months So that Trump and Musk expand the plan of the government’s Ministry of Effectiveness to dismiss thousands of workers and close whole federal departments. But in theory, they can block it by refusing to give the GOP probably eight votes necessary to reach a majority of the test of the Senate filibuste obstacles. The need for thresholds of 60 vote for most bills is the only lever that Democrats can attract the capital to slow down or moderate Trump’s actions.
“I will vote against what came from the Républicains of the House to the Senate last night because I do not want to give my vote to support what Trump and Musk are doing,” said Senator Delaware Chris Coons on Wednesday “CNN News Central”.
But if the Democrats take this path, they will close the government at the same time, Trump tries to destroy it.
Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona democrat, told Kaitlan CNN on Tuesday that he had not yet decided how to vote. But it sees drawbacks to a closure that will be beyond inflicting it even more difficulties on federal workers. “If he stops, what is Elon Musk going to open?” It is a great concern to me, ”said Kelly. “How many veterans are additional Elon, and this administration will draw?” So there is not a good option here. “”
The head of the Democrat minority of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, sought to release the Democrats from their non -enviable political box on Wednesday, warning that the 60 votes necessary to adopt the financing bill do not yet exist. He called for a separate extension of one month with identical spending allowances as those currently in force to allow bipartite negotiations. “We have to vote on this subject. I hope that, I hope that our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a closure on Friday, “said Schumer on Wednesday.
But there is no chance that the GOP, rushing into his monopoly on Washington Power, “will join” the minority party. It is therefore fair to wonder if Schumer takes a position in the hope that enough of its members will finally vote to keep the government open – while allowing the essentials of its party to vote symbolic but politically useful against Trump.
The Republicans savor the show after putting their trap.
“Chuck Schumer has a big decision to make. Will he adopt the bill to keep the government open? Or will he be blamed for arrested him, “said Mike Johnson Chamber on Wednesday. The Louisiana republican held his tiny majority together to adopt the Stopgap bill in a feat that has demonstrated Trump’s enormous influence. Johnson obviously likes to launch exactly the same lines among the Democrats as him and his GOP colleagues have been faced for years to close sagas.
The next two days will be a deeply painful experience for Democrats. “I hate the House bill,” Senator John Hickenlooper told Manu Raju of CNN. But the Colorado Democrat leaned towards the vote for the measure despite the warning that it would give Trump for more time to blur the government cuts which are “exactly what we are fighting against”. However, Wednesday evening, he declared in a video on X that he had decided to vote against the short -term financing extension of the Republicans, arguing that this would give Trump more power to undermine the expenditure authority granted to the Congress by the Constitution.
The arguments for the assembly of a blockade of the Senate, even at the risk of a government closure, are mainly rooted in the occasion for the Democrats to show a certain resistance in the first 100 days the most disruptive in modern presidential history.
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A vote to block the bill in full knowledge that the government would be closed would represent a bet that despite their optimization, the Republicans would always pay a political price for a closure – because vital workers work without salary, thousands of others are leaves on leave and critical services such as airport security and the risk of public health are interrupted.
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If they frustrate the republican plan, the Democrats will at least something that they can show their agitated voters.
The Democrats also hope to exert pressure on Johnson and face him a backlash for having returned his members to the house. They hoped either to acquire concessions that could slow down the mastodon of Trump, or to open cracks in the tiny majority of gop house which could be important in fights later, more critical.
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In addition to the possibility that they inadvertently put certain government services in danger, the party would be an accomplice to cause pain to federal workers he tries to protect.
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Another shock could be closed for an economy that already shows signs of distress, because the demand for consumers reflected and trauma widen on Trump’s trade wars.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is one of the few Democrats to plead openly for having adopted the Stopgap bill – after having previously triggered certain members of the basis of his party by welcoming some of Trump’s policies and candidates.
“If you close it, you will affect and injure millions and millions of Americans, and you run the risk of slipping into a recession or even all kinds of other things,” Fetterman told Manu Raju on Wednesday. “Remember what you vote for. You voted to close the government, and it would absolutely punish millions, millions of Americans, “said Fetterman.
Fetterman’s attitude will resemble abdication to many democrats who have required more difficult action on the part of their representatives in Washington. But he also underlines an unpleasant fact that the party is constantly forced to face: it does not have the power to make a real impact. The earliest who can change is the mid-term elections of 2026, when the Democrats hope that the previous historicals will last firmly and that they will take up the Chamber and the power to check the president in place.
But their chances of overthrowing the current advantage of the GOP 53-47 in the Senate are problematic, with only two seats detained republican, in Maine and North Carolina, safe bets to be competitive and with several in-practice democrats who seem vulnerable. The equation became even more intimidating on Wednesday when Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire – a state that has just gone close to Democrats during the 2024 presidential election – announced that she would not present herself to re -electionopening a competitive race for its headquarters.
This story has been updated with additional developments.