The House passed a Republican-led stopgap funding measure Tuesday night, voting 220 to 205 to extend federal spending at current levels through Dec. 4; the bill now moves to the Senate where its fate is uncertain.
Democrats left their weekly caucus meeting Tuesday morning and blasted Republicans for seeking to circumvent the bipartisan appropriations process.
"It’s an abdication of responsibility to the country at a critical time," Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio said in an interview, and Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said, "If you want our support, you should want to negotiate with us in good faith."
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York did not announce plans for Democratic leadership to whip against the continuing resolution, but he expressed strong opposition at a leadership meeting Monday, according to four people granted anonymity to discuss the private conversation.
Multiple lawmakers left the caucus under the impression that Democratic leaders were firmly in the "no" camp, a departure from the precedent where Democrats traditionally supported "clean" stopgap funding bills, and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California said at a news conference, "I’ll be voting 'no.' And if any members ask, I would encourage them to do the same." Aguilar also called the measure "not a serious proposal" and said Senate Republicans were unlikely to take it up.
Rep. Glenn Ivey of Maryland, another Democratic appropriator, said in an interview after the caucus meeting, "It's kind of a Trojan horse scenario here."
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, outlined her opposition in the Tuesday morning members' meeting, is seeking explicit language that prohibits funding for Customs and Border Protection and is circulating a fact sheet laying out her issues with the legislation; she said Democrats have drawn "a clear line in the sand" against "giving the Trump administration permission to use billions provided by this bill to fund Border Patrol without any substantial reforms to how that agency operates."
Six Democrats joined Republicans to advance the bill, which was largely along party lines, and Speaker Mike Johnson kept his narrow majority mostly together to secure passage.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar said in a statement that the bill "fails to block funding for Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he would put a government funding plan to a vote before senators leave Washington for the August recess and that he would consider using reconciliation to pass funding on a party-line basis if Republicans cannot reach a deal with Democrats. "I hope that's not necessary," he said.
House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole of Oklahoma said Republicans were moving early to avoid shutdown politics, saying, "They're happy to play shutdown politics. We're not," and GOP leaders argued moving the measure months ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline would put Democrats on defense in the spending fight ahead of the midterm elections.
Top appropriators in the Senate are discussing a different approach that would include "anomalies" to prevent disruptions to key services from flat funding; the White House sent a list of those special exceptions Monday, but those exceptions are not included in the House measure.
House Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act before the monthlong congressional recess begins July 27.