Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is urging her party to walk away from bipartisan government funding talks, signaling support for a potential partial government shutdown if Republican-led cuts are not reversed, as reported by The Independent Journal Review.
Her remarks come as Congress faces a September 30 deadline to approve appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Warren criticized Republicans for removing portions of funding previously agreed to by Democrats, particularly targeting cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting.
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She accused Republicans of undermining bipartisan agreements to cater to President Trump.
“Why should Democrats come to the table in good faith and throw our support behind a quote-unquote bipartisan bill, only for Republicans to turn around after the deal is done and, somewhere down the line, delete any of the parts Trump doesn’t like?” Warren said.
“That’s like Republicans saying: ‘Let’s cut a deal to sell you a car today,’ and then a month from now, they come back and steal the wheels.”
Warren, who voted against a procedural motion to advance a government funding bill on July 22, has continued to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to take a firmer stance.
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“I’m asking my Democratic colleagues to join me in using the power we have to fight back,” she said Wednesday.
The Massachusetts senator’s remarks reflect a growing divide within the Senate Democratic caucus over how aggressively to confront House Republicans and the Trump administration.
Schumer, who supported a previous GOP-led spending bill in March to prevent a lapse in funding, has faced criticism from members on the party’s left flank, including Warren, for not pushing back harder.
The White House previously advanced a rescissions package that clawed back roughly 0.1% of the federal government’s $7 trillion budget. Warren condemned the measure as one of Trump’s “worst efforts.”
Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said that any failure to fund the government would be due to Senate Democrats refusing to participate in the process.
“If we end up with a Schumer shutdown at the end of the year, the Democrats are going to own that,” Thune said during a GOP leadership press conference Tuesday.
Thune also warned that left-wing senators such as Warren, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) are steering the party toward obstruction.
“The pressure is going to be enormous from the left wing of the party,” Thune said on the Ruthless podcast. “And increasingly, you’re seeing the tail wagging the dog in the Senate.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has voiced opposition to the shutdown threats, indicating a willingness to work with Republicans to avoid disruptions to government operations.
As of now, Schumer has not confirmed whether Democrats will provide the necessary seven votes to advance appropriations bills that require a 60-vote threshold to pass the Senate.
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