Schumer: Democrats will help pass spending bill

What happened

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday night that faced with two “terrible” options, he will vote for a House Republican stopgap spending bill, and he reportedly said he had enough Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster by his party. Only one other Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.), has publicly said he will back the legislation. Senate passage before midnight Friday would keep the government funded through September.

Who said what

Schumer’s announcement “stunned many of his colleagues” and infuriated House Democrats, The New York Times said. Senate Democrats have “agonized” for days over what “many of them described an impossible choice between two evils.” Those opposed to the bill, The Washington Post said, argued it lacks the typical directives that “dictate how money can be spent,” enabling President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to “lay off government workers and seek to eliminate programs without congressional input.”