Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer dropped his threat to block a Republican spending bill, opening the way to avoid a US government shutdown.
“I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor Thursday, adding that a shutdown “would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche.”
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Democrats and Republicans had been engaged in a high-stakes game of chicken over Democrats’ insistence that a spending package include some restraints on Elon Musk’s DOGE’s cost-cutting crusade, with Republicans refusing and daring the opposition party to risk blame for a shutdown.
Schumer had said Wednesday his party would block a Republican spending bill to fund the government through Sept. 30 and urged the GOP to accept a Democratic plan for short-term-funding through April 11 instead.
Democrats’ most dedicated and active voters are clamoring for a confrontation to constrain President Donald Trump and Musk’s efforts to dismantle entire federal agencies. But many moderates had been wary of shutting down the government and risking being blamed for interrupting government services.
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