Senate Democrats — including Colorado’s John Hickenlooper — refuse to go along with GOP spending plan, as shutdown deadline nears

By Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A day before a shutdown deadline, Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House but failed to slap any limits on President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to gut federal operations.

Senate Democrats are under intense pressure to do whatever they can to stop the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which is taking a wrecking ball to long-established government agencies by purging thousands of federal workers from jobs.

U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, said Wednesday during a virtual town hall he would vote against the Republican bill and vote “no” on the Senate cloture motion that needs 60 votes to get around the filibuster.

“The longer I look at it, this is a fundamental test of our democracy,” he said of the funding bill. “We need a funding bill that preserves Congress’ authority and, by extension, your voice.”

Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, hasn’t said how he will vote on the GOP funding bill and cloture motion.

Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative. But its prospects are dim in the Congress controlled by Republicans. And it’s unlikely the Democrats would allow a government shutdown, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.

As the Senate opened Thursday, with one day to go before Friday’s midnight deadline, the Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: “It’s time to fish or cut bait.”

Debates over funding the federal government routinely erupt in deadline moments but this year it’s showing the political leverage of Republicans, newly in majority control of the White House and Congress, and the shortcomings of Democrats who are finding themselves unable to stop the Trump administration’s march across federal operations.

In a rare turn of events, House Republicans stuck together to pass their bill, many conservatives cheering the DOGE cuts, leaving Democrats sidelined as they stood opposed. They House then left town, sending it to the Senate for final action.

Options for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are limited, especially as the party is wary of fully withholding their votes and being blamed for a full shutdown of services.

Schumer announced that Democrats were unified in pressing for a 30-day stopgap measure as an alternative to the House passed bill, which would instead fund operations through the end of the budget year in September.

With his party united, Schumer said the Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority, lack the support needed to reach the 60-vote threshold, which is required to overcome a filibuster.

But Senate Republicans have shown little interest in Schumer’s offer.

What is more likely is that senators will have a chance to vote on the Democrats’ stopgap measure, but if it fails as expected, the Senate would then turn to the broader bill for passage, hours before Friday’s midnight deadline.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sought to shift attention from Trump’s tariff tit-for-tat tariff war to a looming federal government shutdown.

“I can tell you what’s not good for the economy is this government shutdown,” Bessent said outside the White House. “I don’t know what Democrats are thinking here. They’re going to own it.”

But Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has called Trump and Musk “two billionaires to don’t know the first thing” about what American families need.

In an highly unusual turn, the House package also required the District of Columbia, which already approved its own balanced budget, to revert back to 2024 levels, drawing outcry from the mayor and city leaders who are pushing the Congress to revert course. They warn of steep reductions to city services.

“Both choices that we are being offered are full of despair,” Hickenlooper said.

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani and Stephen Groves contributed to this report. Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.