WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming criticized Democrats on Friday for demanding the reversal of recent spending cuts in exchange for the minority party members’ votes to keep the government operating.
Republicans need at least seven Senate Democrats’ votes to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the fiscal year — Sept. 30 — and Democrats are using that leverage by insisting that recently slashed funds are restored.
Barrasso put the price tag for restoring those funds — mostly in health care, such as Medicaid — at $1 trillion. A Barrasso spokeswoman clarified to Cowboy State Daily that the figure refers to a 10-year period of spending.
The parties’ leaders Friday brought forth dueling legislative measures called “continuing resolutions,” or CRs, to keep the government operating past Sept. 30. Both measures were defeated in the Senate, where the GOP holds a 53-47 edge.
Each CR required 60 votes to advance in the Senate and neither came close, leaving the parties at loggerheads. But there is still a week-and-a-half to go before funding runs out and a wide array of government services are crippled or halted.
The GOP’s failed measure — known as a “clean” CR because it would have maintained current spending levels and not change policies — originated in the House. It passed that chamber earlier Friday on a nearly party-line vote before going down in the Senate.
It would have kept the government running for about seven weeks beginning Oct. 1, allowing time for committee appropriators to craft a full-year spending package.
The Democrats’ failed CR, which originated in the Senate, would have undone major health care cuts in the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It also would have restored funds which were enacted into law in the last term of Congress but rescinded this year — including funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
The Democrats' measure would have lasted about four weeks into the new fiscal year, as opposed to the GOP's seven-week plan.
‘It’s A Shakedown’
Barrasso called the Democrats’ CR “the biggest ransom note in American history” and blamed Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York for bringing the government to the brink of a shutdown.
Those comments from Barrasso led Schumer to interrupt him, asking him to yield to a question, which Barrasso refused to do.
Barrasso proceeded to invoke the figure of $1 trillion that he said the Democrats’ measure would cost. Schumer then started talking over Barrasso, leading the presiding chair to gavel the chamber to order.
“One trillion dollars. One trillion dollars in ransom for four weeks of keeping the government open,” Barrasso said of the Democrats’ measure. “It is filled with partisan, political poison pills that will never become law.”
Schumer “is holding the American people hostage,” Barrasso said. “What he’s promoting today — it’s not a spending bill. It's a shakedown.”
Barrasso repeatedly called the Republican-led CR, passed by the House, “bipartisan." It received one Democrat’s vote and had two GOP defectors. U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, voted for it.
Schumer’s Retort
Schumer said Barrasso, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, and the rest of the chamber’s GOP leadership were ignoring the principle of compromise.
“I would just make one point to my good friend from Wyoming,” Schumer said. “When we were in the majority for four years, there was not a shutdown. Not one. Why? Because we did what you’re supposed to do: talk in a bipartisan negotiation and each side has input.”
Added Schumer: “The reason we’re having a shutdown now is you and your leadership refuse to talk to Democrats and have any input, and want only your imprimatur on the bill, which we believe hurts Americans badly with health care.
“Never a shutdown when we were in the leadership … We did it the right way. You are not.”
Schumer did not dispute Barrasso’s estimate of $1 trillion in spending hikes attached to the Democrats’ measure.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the rescissions package clawing back foreign aid and public broadcasting funds, were passed under simple-majority rules in the Senate. That meant the GOP needed no Democrats’ help to pass them. The Republicans neither sought nor received any such help.
Lummis Weighs In
Democrats in this term of Congress often argue that Republicans defer too much to President Donald Trump, especially in the Senate. But U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, flipped that narrative Friday.
She told Cowboy State Daily that it is Democrats’ dislike of Trump that is causing them not to cooperate on a CR.
“Democrats dislike President Trump so much that they are willing to push us into an avoidable government shutdown,” Lummis said Friday. “Today they voted down a 'clean' CR, which would fund the government through November 21st and allow time for negotiations to pass fiscal 2026 spending bills.
“I hope Senator Schumer will put the country over his radical left-wing base and help us pass the bipartisan House CR before September 30th.”
What Happens In A Shutdown
In a shutdown, “essential” services are unaffected. According to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, these include air traffic control, law enforcement, hospital care and power grid maintenance, among others.
Ongoing entitlement payments such as Social Security and Medicare are also undisturbed. But the processing of new paperwork related to any program would likely be curtailed, the CFRB said. This includes tax returns, possibly leading to delays in refunds.
In past shutdowns, food and environmental inspections were put on hold, the group said. It noted that the national parks were hit with reduced services such as trash pickup, or full closures in some instances.
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
