The Only Thing Democrats have to Fear is Fear Itself, and Chuck Schumer

While the vast majority of the governance problems facing this country are a result of the actions of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, the Democratic Party is not without its share of responsibility. For the most part, the party is a leaderless, rudderless organization lacking both a purpose and a cause. Succinctly put, it is an opposition party that doesn't want to oppose. It is governed much more by fear rather than courage. Unless things unexpectedly change, today the Democrats will rubber-stamp efforts by Trump and Shadow President Elon Musk to continue their destruction of the federal government. Today on the Senate floor, Democrats will simultaneously warn of the threat that Trump and Musk pose to our country and vote to allow them to proceed.

At issue is a six-month continuing resolution that will fund the government until the end of the fiscal year. Without passage of this resolution, the government will not have funding and have to shut down as early as tomorrow. The resolution passed the House of Representatives with all Democrats but one voting against it. In the Senate, the vast majority of Democrats also oppose the bill. However, only a handful of Democratic votes are required to invoke cloture and, therefore, end the ability of Democrats to filibuster the resolution. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced that he will vote for cloture, and enough Democrats are expected to join him to allow the legislation to advance. Schumer and the other Democrats will then vote against the resolution, but since it only requires 50 votes to pass, their "no" votes will not matter. The Democratic enablers will likely hope that voters are uninformed enough not to know that, on the crucial vote, these Democrats — despite their rhetoric warning of the dangers of the legislation — will have voted to allow it to pass.

At a time when Republicans have a majority in the House, a majority in the Senate, and hold the Presidency, Democrats have very little leverage. The only card that the Democrats really hold is the ability to filibuster in the Senate. By forcing 60 votes to be needed to end debate and proceed to a vote on a bill, Democrats can assure that Republicans cannot pass most legislation by themselves. Despite pressure to get rid of the filibuster when they held a Senate majority, the Democrats kept the practice because they were concerned that they might need it when they were in the minority. The result is that the Democrats allowed their agenda to be repeatedly hobbled by Republican filibusters so that they would be able to use the filibuster on a day like today. Now that that day is here, they are apparently not going to use it. Seemingly not satisfied with having shot themselves in one foot, Democrats are now determined to shoot themselves in the other foot as well.

There are a number of reasons that the continuing resolution should not pass and why almost all Democrats will eventually vote against it. The resolution adds billions of dollars in defense spending while cutting non-defense spending to below 2024 levels. The bill cuts $1.1 billion from the District of Columbia's budget. These are D.C. taxpayers’ dollars, so Congress is preventing the District from spending its own money. The forced budget cuts will cause severe disruption to government services in the District. The resolution also removes the ability of Congress to vote to end tariffs, ceding this power to Trump. More important is what the resolution does not do. It does not do anything to require Trump and Musk to actually spend the money that is appropriated. This was, in fact, a selling point to Republican hardliners. Republican budget hawks wanted a resolution with deeper cuts but were persuaded by promises that the money would not actually be spent. Nor does the resolution do anything to reign in Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service, commonly referred to as DOGE. Despite all the harsh rhetoric you will hear from Democrats, Schumer and others will vote to continue enabling the DOGE rampage.

The result of the Democrats preventing cloture would mean that there could not be a vote on the continuing resolution. The legislation would have been filibustered. Republicans could then choose to negotiate a new bill with the Democrats, but such legislation would also require approval by the House and, as such, probably could not be completed in time to prevent at least a short-term government shutdown. More feasible would be passage of a short-term "clean" continuing resolution for 30 days or so. That would provide time to negotiate a longer term solution. Alternatively, the Republicans could do nothing and allow the government to close. This option is the most likely. Schumer and the handful of Democrats who will likely join him in voting along with the Republicans fear a government shutdown.

Admittedly, a government shutdown is not desirable. Federal employees in recent months have faced return-to-the-office requirements, massive job losses, and constant turmoil. Many are not sure if they are working for their department heads or for Musk and DOGE. Almost all would be indefinitely cast out of work without pay or other financial support. Federal law requires that they receive back pay, but not everyone has savings that will last for an undetermined length of time. The hardship to federal employees that a government closure would cause should not be minimized. A government shutdown would also impact the delivery of government services. Many, especially among the marginalized, who rely on government services, would suffer. Again, this should not be discounted.

However, Schumer's concerns seem to be somewhat different. He argues that a government shutdown will give Trump and Musk the freedom to furlough whomever they want and would effectively be DOGE on steroids. Some fear that Trump and Musk would not want the government to reopen and that a closure would last indefinitely. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was overheard by reporters shouting during a meeting of Senate Democrats that "This will not be a normal shutdown." Moreover, Democrats whose preferred posture in any conflict is to be in bed with the covers pulled up over their heads are fearful that they will be blamed for a shutdown. Trump has already said that any shutdown would be the fault of the Democrats, and Schumer and others seem to believe that they are unable to counter that message.

The case for preventing passage of the resolution and facing an inevitable government shutdown is multifaceted. First, as noted above, Democrats preserved the filibuster exactly for times like this. What good is a power that is not used? Second, there is hope that stopping this resolution would lead to negotiations over another one, and Democrats would then be able to have some of their priorities addressed. Some proponents of blocking the continuing resolution also argue that it is important for the Democrats to simply show that they are fighting against Trump, even if they lose. Fighting a losing battle can be inspirational; after all, don't we still "Remember the Alamo"? As for Schumer's concerns about a shutdown further enabling Musk and DOGE, that is happening anyway, and the resolution will only further encourage them. Musk can either dismantle the government quickly during a shutdown or a little more slowly under the continuing resolution. I am not convinced that will change either way. Schumer also seems to be wrong about public sentiment. Multiple polls show that essentially everyone except MAGA cultists would blame Trump for a shutdown rather than the Democrats. Trump's brand is chaos, and most Americans will simply assume that additional chaos is also caused by Trump. The suggestion that Trump and Musk want a shutdown is belied by the fact that Trump lobbied vigorously for passage of the continuing resolution and has been unrelenting in his criticism of Representative Thomas Massie, the lone Republican to vote against it. Trump seems to understand that a government shutdown would not be good for him.

As Semafor reporter Dave Weigel points out — and I noted above — Trump's plans to impound appropriated funds made it easier for House Republicans to pass the continuing resolution. Hardliners could be assured that they were voting for funds that would not be spent. The resolution also results in the House handing power to make spending cuts to Musk and DOGE. That means that the Republicans won't have to make hard and politically dangerous votes on cutting programs. In effect, the continuing resolution allows differences between Republican hardliners and moderates to be papered over. Hardliners get their cuts, moderates get to claim that they voted for the funding. Schumer, by enabling the resolution to pass, is allowing the Republicans to politically protect themselves. Were the resolution not to pass, Republican infighting would likely erupt over attempts to pass an alternative resolution. Maybe attempting to change this by preventing the passage of the continuing resolution would fail. But not trying will definitely not work. This seems like the perfect instance of it being better to have tried and failed rather than not have tried at all.

My own view is that only two things are likely to stop Trump and Musk from destroying the federal government: 1) the courts, and; 2) public opposition that is politically untenable. Court proceedings would likely be interrupted by a government shutdown, though not necessarily. But it is the second factor that gets my attention. My expectation is that the public is not going to appreciate the loss of government services that will result from Musk and DOGE's attacks on the federal workforce. If Musk and DOGE are allowed to continue uninterrupted, the public will eventually experience this loss over time. A shutdown will cause them to face the loss immediately. Perhaps a lesson in what a loss of government services means would be appropriate now? The public would get a look at the Musk and DOGE future and they probably won't like it. Democrats could use a shutdown to reinforce the importance of government and to strengthen their hand in negotiations to reopen it. One thing for sure is that getting rolled this time is going to do nothing to prevent Republicans from believing that Democrats can be rolled next time as well.