Senate Democrats are teasing a government shutdown this week in protest of a Republican-led funding bill, despite repeatedly stoking fears over shutdowns and criticizing GOP lawmakers for hesitating over funding legislation in the past.
“Funding the government is the most basic responsibility we have in Congress,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in September.
The House passed a continuing resolution (CR) this week to keep the government open until October, but Democratic Senators are holding up the legislation to advocate for a “clean” month-long stopgap bill. Schumer said on Wednesday that Republicans “do not have the votes” to pass the House version of the bill – putting the government at risk as the Friday funding deadline looms.
While Democrats are on the brink of allowing the government to shut down this week, their past comments reveal they have criticized Republicans over the same issue.
SENATE REPUBLICANS COIN ‘SCHUMER SHUTDOWN’ AHEAD OF CRITICAL VOTE ON TRUMP SPENDING BILL
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference following the weekly Senate Democratic policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 10, 2024 in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch)
In September 2024, Schumer warned of the implications that would follow if the government were to shut down.
“If the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most. A government shutdown means seniors who rely on Social Security could be thrown into chaos,” the Democratic Senator said.
“So what changed, Chuck?” Trump’s Rapid Response team said on Thursday in a post on X alongside a resurfaced clip of the remarks.
Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., amid the September spending bill fight, claimed that “MAGA Republicans have exploited each funding deadline to play political games and force their radical Project 2025 policies on Americans while American families’ livelihoods hang in the balance.”
“This is no way to govern, but the last thing Florida families need is a government shutdown as Floridians prepare for Hurricane Helene and its difficult aftermath,” Castor said.
TRUMP-BACKED BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN PASSES HOUSE DESPITE MUTINY THREATS
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (Getty Images)
“We are mere days away from a partial government shutdown on March 1,” Schumer said in a February 2024 letter. “Unless Republicans get serious, the extreme Republican shutdown will endanger our economy, raise costs, lower safety, and exact untold pain on the American people.”
In another instance, in 2023, Schumer claimed that “a shutdown would be a terrible outcome for the country despite what some on the hard right would have us ludicrously believe.”
“It’s hard for me to believe that some, the extreme right in the other chamber, say they actually want a shutdown. What insanity,” the New York Democrat said.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., during a meeting with President Donald Trump in 2018, also cautioned against a government shutdown.
“I think the American people recognize that we must keep the government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything,” Pelosi told Trump in the Oval Office.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer agreed in 2018 that the government should not be shut down ‘over a dispute.’ (Getty Images)
During the same meeting, Schumer mirrored Pelosi’s stance, telling Trump that “we shouldn’t shut down the government over a dispute.”
Castor, in response to Democratic opposition to the CR this week, told Fox News Digital, “Elon Musk and Republicans in Congress are exploiting a deadline to continue their illegal shutdowns and firings of public servants who serve veterans, neighbors who rely on Social Security and more.”
“Let’s be clear: Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House. This is their chaos, their crisis, and their responsibility,” Castor’s office said in a statement. “If they want to ram through a funding bill that inflicts pain on the American people, they’ll have to do it on their own.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., speaking to reporters, said that if Democrats shut down the government, it would be “a Schumer shutdown.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. (Al Drago)
A spokesperson for Pelosi told Fox News Digital that, given their majority, it is the Republicans’ responsibility to fund the government.
“Republicans have control of the House, Senate and White House. Democrats are ready, willing and able to support bipartisan government funding – but Republicans walked away from negotiations, so it is their responsibility to fund the government. Democrats do not have the ability to shut down the government,” a spokesperson for Pelosi told Fox.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Andrew Mark Miller, and Remy Numa contributed to this report.