Illinois Congressional Democrats were left with mixed feelings after the Senate passed a spending bill Friday, avoiding a government shutdown hours before a midnight deadline.
Democrats were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting a funding lapse ensue. A small group, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to advance the Republican funding proposal and avoid a shutdown at all costs.
“There is very little about this [continued resolution] that I like — but there is even less I like about shutting down the government,” Durbin said in a statement. “With Donald Trump and Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the federal government’s workforce and illegally freezing federal funding, the last thing we need to do is plunge our country into further chaos and turmoil by shutting down the government.”
The vote was 54-46, with 10 Democrats voting for the measure.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., voted against the bill, saying she could not support giving Trump the power to continue making cuts to government spending.
“I refuse to vote for Republicans’ slush fund bill that grants Trump and Elon Musk permission to continue rigging our government and our economy against the middle class,” Duckworth said in a social media post before Friday’s vote. “It would greenlight even more chaos and more cuts to critical programs.”
The legislation would fund the federal government through the end of September. It would trim non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increase defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.
Some Democrats had proposed a 30-day stopgap plan instead of the Republican proposal that would provide funding until September.
The Republican-led House passed the six-month spending bill Tuesday and then adjourned. One House Democrat from Maine voted for the measure. Since that vote, House members strongly urged senators to kill the bill.
Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said the resolution wouldn’t guarantee necessary spending is covered; rather, it opens the door for Trump to make further cuts. He called the resolution “a disaster for the American people.”
“While I am eager to vote for a government funding bill that keeps the government open through the end of the fiscal year and protects Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the continuing resolution passed by the House today does nothing of the sort,” Casten said in a statement. “Instead, it harmfully slashes federal funding for veterans, seniors, and families in my community.”
Congress has been unable to pass the annual appropriations bills designed to fund the government, so they’ve resorted to passing short-term extensions instead. The legislation approved by the Senate is the third such continuing resolution for the current fiscal year, now nearly half over.