A short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown will be voted on by the Republican-controlled Senate this week. The bill must pass and be signed into law by President Donald Trump before midnight this Friday to avert a government shutdown.
The bill narrowly passed the House of Representatives earlier this week in a 217 to 213 vote, with only one Democrat, Representative Jared Golden of Maine, voting yes. Only one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against the legislation. Trump vowed to "lead the charge" to unseat Rep. Massie after his 'no' vote.
The bill would largely preserve the spending levels as they existed under former President Joe Biden's administration. Key differences in the bill include cutting a billion dollars from the District of Columbia's budget, and increasing military spending by $6 billion. The bill will also not include funds for any projects in lawmakers districts or states.
The short-term funding bill will need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate. Republican Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., has already said he plans to vote 'no' on the bill, which means Senate Republicans will need eight Democrats to move on to final passage, if no other Republicans oppose the bill. President Trump has made it clear on X, formerly known as Twitter, he plans to blame Democrats if the government shuts down.
"President Trump and Elon Musk are already shutting down the government," Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said on NPR's Morning Edition.
Sen.Coons spoke to NPR's Michel Martin about his decision to vote 'no' on the spending bill.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
Michel Martin: Have you decided how you're going to vote?
Senator Chris Coons: I'm an appropriator. I am going to vote against this dirty continuing resolution because I don't want my vote to give an imprimatur to what President Trump is doing. We can and should find more efficient ways to spend federal government dollars, but the ways in which he is cutting veterans mental health services, tens of thousands of employees out of critical agencies that keep us safe and support our country. And the rising threats in recent comments from Elon Musk and others close to Trump to go after Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare alarm me and will not have my support.
The argument in favor is that, well, this is bad. And, well, almost every Democrat in the House and almost every Democrat in the Senate opposes what Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing. The risks of shutting the government down may be greater because we don't know what this unusual president might do to further break the guardrails. So court after court that has reviewed his abrupt and cruel spending cuts have said they were illegal or unconstitutional. President Trump is coloring outside the lines. And so I respect those senators who have real concerns about what more Trump might do in the midst of a government shutdown.
Martin: Republicans, starting with Trump, have made it clear they're going to blame the Democrats for shutting down the government if that happens. What are the arguments for voting against it?
Senator Coons: President Trump and Elon Musk are already shutting down the government for the time he's been president now just over 50 days. They have torn through agency after agency. A government shutdown is already underway and it's being done piecemeal, without planning, without any kindness or decency to folks who've served as veterans and helped keep our nation safe and help run our Social Security agency. So first, the argument for not giving President Trump and Elon Musk more power to do more bad, to move money around at will, to shut down more organizations and to give it our vote.
Martin: Is this more about what's in the bill or is it all about taking a stand against the actions of the Trump administration more broadly?
Senator Coons: It's both. This is not what we call in the Senate a clean continuing resolution. It's a dirty continuing resolution. It doesn't have positive provisions that ensure that the president will follow the law or that ensure that there is a congressional role in oversight, as the president uses this as a slush fund to move billions of dollars here and there.
What a continuing resolution really means is that, yes, the funding levels are roughly similar to what they should have been last year, although with real cuts, to the District of Columbia government, but to lots of domestic agencies. But it also gives the president more range to move money around the federal government, around the country at will. And we're already seeing him use that power to extract concessions.
Martin: Do you expect that all Democrats will vote against this bill as you have planned to and if they don't? Does this further signal that the Democrats don't have a coherent response to this administration?
Senator Coons: No Democrats in the Senate are going to fight for our appropriations bills that we've already done on a bipartisan basis that are ready for action. We're going to work to get a vote on the floor of a 30 day continuing resolution to keep the government open while we finish our appropriations bills.
And Michel, let's be clear. It's President Trump who is already shutting down the government, and it's Elon Musk who's been cheering on those who want to shut down the government.
This story was edited by Kristian Monroe. The audio version of this story was produced by Nia Dumas and edited by Lisa Thomson.
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