The House of Representatives approved, and the Senate quickly rejected, a seven-week government funding extension. We are now 11 days out from a shutdown, and there are no viable options on the table.
The Republican-led funding bill was what’s called a clean continuing resolution, or CR, so it’s a copy and paste of the current budget. In both the House and Senate, the votes were largely along party lines.
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Republicans contend that this is the best way to give Congress a chance to make a deal for all of fiscal year 2026.
“And so instead of working with Republicans to fund the government through a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution so that we can get back to bipartisan negotiations on appropriations,” Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said. “Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands.”
.@LeaderJohnThune on Senate Democrats: They can vote with Republicans on a clean, non-partisan CR to fund the government and allow the Senate to complete additional appropriations work, or they can vote for their own partisan CR and move the country one step closer to a shutdown. pic.twitter.com/dEt23gbBVK
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 19, 2025
Senate Democrats introduced their own proposal, which included measures to extend Obamacare tax credits that help low-income Americans pay their insurance premiums, reverse Medicaid cuts Republicans passed in July, and prohibit the White House from blocking funding that’s been approved by Congress.
“Republicans can vote to undo the destruction Donald Trump has inflicted on American health care and instead work on a bipartisan bill, the only bipartisan bill,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said.
.@SenSchumer: "Donald Trump is saying he wants a shutdown. And Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson should resist Trump's bullying. They know the only way to pass a budget is with bipartisan negotiation." pic.twitter.com/xi5vpCqxaL
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 19, 2025
Who is to blame?
So the big question is, if and when the government shuts down, who will the American people blame? Republicans or Democrats?
A new poll from progressive polling firm Data for Progress reveals that 59% of voters would blame President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, while 34% would blame congressional Democrats. In addition, 72% of voters support extending the Obamacare tax subsidies and 67% support restoring Medicaid.
So with that in mind, Democrats are taking a stand and telling Republicans to either include those measures, or they’ll vote against government spending.
“I don’t want the government to shut down. I think that would be terrible for the American people. But the instructions that Republicans were given from the administration is, don’t work with the Democrats, don’t talk to the Democrats, don’t make any deal with the Democrats,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., told SAN. “I hope we can make some sort of deal. I hope we can save people’s health insurance.”
So, what are Democrats saying?
Straight Arrow News spoke with congressional Democrats and asked if they feel confident that Americans will blame Republicans for a shutdown despite their vote against a funding package.
“This is about one thing. This is about the cost of health care and helping people out,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. “And I think we’re going to make it very clear, as we did today, this is a very easy thing to do, which is to help get people’s health care costs down.”
SAN also asked if the Obamacare tax credits were included, would they support the bill? They wouldn’t give a direct answer, but made clear that it would bring them to the negotiating table.
“That’s what we’re expecting here, for them to step up and do something on the premiums,” Gottheimer said. “If they do that and help people out with premium costs, I think you’re gonna have a lot of good conversations.”
“If those go away, everyone, even if you have private insurance, is going to see a 20% increase,” Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., said of the tax credits. “So this is a negotiation.”
“Give us those subsidies, we probably will have to find some Democratic votes, but I think you’ll find those votes to pass it,” Bera added.
It’s important to remember that everything Congress is debating right now is temporary. These measures are only intended to give Congress time to come up with a permanent funding solution for all of fiscal year 2026. If they do that by the books, it will require them to pass 12 more appropriations bills.
