Washington
CNN
—
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer introduced on Thursday that he’s taking steps to avert a shutdown as Speaker Mike Johnson’s subsequent strikes stay unclear.
Schumer mentioned on the Senate flooring that he’ll take an preliminary procedural step that can give the Senate the choice to arrange a vote subsequent week on a authorities funding extension as the specter of a shutdown looms on the finish of the month.
After the Home failed on Wednesday to move a funding plan that included a controversial measure concentrating on non-citizen voting, Johnson has not but mentioned precisely what he’ll do subsequent.
Schumer criticized the Louisiana Republican’s dealing with of the difficulty, saying at a information convention that the speaker “completely flopped proper on his face” by making an attempt and failing to move the GOP plan.
Schumer didn’t say if he’s spoken on to Johnson about subsequent steps, nor would he say if he’s making an attempt to get reduction for pure disasters or more cash for the embattled Secret Service into the invoice. “Not going to barter in public on this problem,” he mentioned.
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has known as for Republicans to close down the federal government if they will’t move the voting measure generally known as the SAVE Act.
Many Democrats are pushing for an extension into December that might not embody the SAVE Act, which is considered as a non-starter within the Senate.
“Home Republicans don’t appear to have any plan for truly holding the federal government open, so the Senate will step in,” Schumer mentioned in flooring remarks. “Either side are going to spend the following few days making an attempt to determine the perfect path remaining for holding the federal government open. By submitting at this time, I’m giving the Senate most flexibility for stopping a shutdown.”
Johnson, contemporary off the defeat on the Home flooring on Wednesday, mentioned he’ll “draw up one other play.”
“And so now we return to the playbook, draw up one other play, and we’ll provide you with an answer. I’m already speaking to colleagues about their many concepts. We’ve got time to repair the scenario, and we’ll get proper to it. I’m upset,” he informed reporters.
Johnson is below stress as he navigates a slim majority and as Trump pushes for the SAVE Act, which comes as the previous president continues to sow doubts over election integrity within the run-up to November.
“If Republicans don’t get the SAVE Act, and each ounce of it, they need to not comply with a Persevering with Decision in any means, form, or type,” Trump mentioned on Reality Social earlier on Wednesday forward of the Home vote.
Schumer was requested about Trump’s demand to congressional Republicans that they power a authorities shutdown if the voting proposal isn’t handed alongside the funding measure.
“Many Republican Home members, as lots of you could have reported, are sensible sufficient to know if there’s a shutdown, it will likely be a Republican shutdown. That they know folks know Democrats don’t desire a shutdown. They usually notice that Donald Trump in terms of legislating, doesn’t know what the heck he’s speaking about,” he mentioned.
“There is not going to be a shutdown. There by no means is a shutdown — infrequently is a shutdown,” mentioned Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. “However the truth that we now have to return to the brink so many instances is de facto embarrassing to the Congress.”
CNN’s Haley Talbot and Morgan Rimmer contributed to this report.