Friends–
We need to talk about what happened in the Senate last week.
If you were following the national news, you probably heard that the House and Senate were hotly debating a Continued Resolution (commonly called a CR) that would keep the government open and funded past the March 14th government funding deadline. Typically, CRs are put forward as “clean” – meaning there are no real policy changes in the text of the bill and its main purpose is keeping the government funded until substantive policy changes can be meaningfully debated and agreed on.
But these aren’t normal times, and this isn’t your mom’s Republican Party. This month, the Republican majority put forward a truly horrendous CR that includes $13 billion in cuts to domestic spending – including catastrophic cuts to veterans’ health care, housing and food assistance, disaster relief, mental health services, rural broadband, and more. The bill emboldens the Trump agenda, continues to erode our balance of power, and gives a green light to DOGE’s harmful cuts.
It was a bad bill in the House and it was a bad bill in the Senate.
House Democrats voted almost unanimously against the bill. Unfortunately, because we are currently in the minority, it passed the House anyway.
The Senate was another story. The Senate has an archaic rule known as the filibuster, which means that it takes 60 senators to vote in favor of ending debate on a bill for it to be taken up for a final vote. Right now, the Senate has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats, and 2 independents – which means Republicans could not pass this horrible bill without support from Democrats and independents.
Without additional support, Republicans – in the triple majority – would be faced with two options: 1) Shut down the government – an incredibly unpopular move causing general chaos across the country and withholding pay from service members, TSA workers, air traffic controllers, and more. Or 2) Come to the table and negotiate in good faith with Democrats to keep the government open and keep the bipartisan debate going.
Senate Democrats had the opportunity to force Republicans’ hands – force them to work across the aisle and avoid catastrophically harmful cuts that impact kids and families all across the country. Instead, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and eight other Democratic Senators voted with Senate Republicans and one independent to let the bill move forward.
I was and still am outraged. In the triple minority, there are only so many tools in our toolbelt. But this was absolutely one of them. And to give away our leverage without so much as a fight is inexcusable.
I have no interest in taking the focus off of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and House and Senate Republicans who are causing irreparable harm to our country. But we also need to call a spade a spade. When people in our own party aren’t up for the fight, we need to say it – or no one will ever trust us to lead again.
The vast majority of elected Democrats are standing up and fighting back. But it’s going to take ALL of us to keep up the pressure, push back against this Republican-led chaos, and get our country back on track again.
As we make our way through this fight, we’re sure to face more challenges and even crises – in our country, here in Congress, and within the Democratic Party. I want you to know: I will always speak out and tell you the unvarnished truth about what’s going on – and what we can do about it.
I’m still all in. Are you? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for letting me vent.
-Sara
