Most Senate Democrats against colleagues’ shutdown deal | AP News

1 of 6 |  A deal that eight Senate Democrats cut with Republicans to reopen government has refueled the party’s tussle over strategy and identity, and has upset both progressives and centrists in the Democratic base. (AP Video: Nathan Ellgren)

By  BILL BARROW and JOEY CAPPELLETTI, Updated 7:11 PM PST, November 10, 2025

The deal cut by some Senate Democrats to reopen government has refueled the party’s tussle over strategy and identity just days after sweeping election victories had raised hopes that the left’s disparate factions were pulling in the same direction heading into the 2026 midterms.

Democrats’ latest fault lines do not track perfectly along the familiar split between progressives and centrists. Instead, there’s renewed rancor over how aggressively to fight President Donald Trump and his compliant GOP majorities on Capitol Hill, with some progressives renewing their calls for Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer to step aside, even as he publicly opposes the latest deal.

The left flank is incensed that eight centrist senators — none of whom face reelection in 2026 — crafted a deal with Republicans that does not guarantee Democrats’ main demand to extend Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that will expire at the end of the year. They say the agreement means Schumer could not hold his caucus together.

Some moderates are frustrated, or at least caught on a political tightrope after more than a month of Democrats agreeing that the longest federal shutdown ever was the way, finally, to use their limited influence to achieve some policy and political wins in a Republican-dominated capital.

Party leaders including Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries continue blaming Republicans for the looming premium spikes and other shutdown ripples, but the standoff’s sudden end underscores the difficulty of maintaining Democrats’ fragile and fractious coalition.

Government shutdown
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“The Republicans have learned they could hurt our communities, they could hurt everyday people, including their own constituents, and Democrats will fold,” said Maurice Mitchell, who leads the progressive Working Families Party.

New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, who won by more than double Democrats’ 2024 margin in her state, said victories like hers showed voters “want leadership with a backbone” who “stay strong under pressure.”

Instead, she said, “The Senate is on the brink of caving.”

Democrats’ dealmakers say there was no viable alternative

The Democrats who cut a deal counter that they had little choice — that Republicans weren’t budging, and the pressure of the prolonged shutdown had become untenable as the Trump administration withheld food assistance payments to low-income Americans and mandated flight delays at airports strained by a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Democrats settled for a pledge from Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to hold a December vote on ACA subsidies, along with assuring back pay for federal workers who’ve missed paychecks, among other policy details.

“This was the only deal on the table,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

Democrats pointed to Trump, after the GOP’s electoral defeats, calling on Republican senators to end the filibuster and bypass the minority altogether. That, the centrists argued, showed Trump could not be maneuvered into negotiations — though Republican senators were pushing back to defend the filibuster.

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GAO, Library of Congress avoid cuts in Legislative Branch bill – Roll Call

An Architect of the Capitol worker picks up trash on the Capitol steps on May 22. (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call)

Congress

GAO, Library of Congress avoid cuts in Legislative Branch bill

Both agencies faced steep cuts in an earlier House version

By Justin Papp, Posted November 10, 2025 at 6:11am

Senate appropriators Sunday unveiled a roughly $7.3 billion draft fiscal 2026 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, part of a three-bill package that could be paired with a stopgap spending measure in a bid to reopen the government.

The bill would maintain funding for both the Government Accountability Office and the Library of Congress, two legislative branch agencies that faced steep cuts in an earlier House version of the proposal.

It would also boost Capitol Police funding to $852.4 million for fiscal 2026, an increase of roughly $46 million over the current fiscal year, as concerns over member security remain elevated. The proposal would be a more than 7 percent increase in total legislative branch funding over the current fiscal year

Not included is language barring the GAO from suing for the release of “impounded” funds without congressional approval, a sticking point in negotiations to advance the package of bills that includes the Military Construction-VA and Agriculture spending proposals.

The language restricting GAO’s authorities appeared in the version that advanced out of the House Appropriations Committee in June, as Republicans were ramping up attacks against the nonpartisan watchdog, which had found that the Trump White House illegally barred the release of appropriated funds.

The proposed restriction on the GAO language was paired with a nearly 50 percent proposed cut to the GAO’s budget that Democrats viewed as an attack on the legislative branch agency.

“It is astonishing that for all the talk about finding and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, that House Republicans would defund the watchdog that is tasked with precisely that role,” said House Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., at the time.

A Senate version of the bill that advanced out of committee in July and passed on the floor in August would reinstate the GAO’s funding, keeping it flat at $811.9 million for fiscal 2026. But the language over the GAO’s ability to sue the executive branch over “impoundment” — the withholding of appropriated funds from being obligated for purposes intended by Congress — continued to be debated late into this week.

Presidents can cancel funds with congressional approval, as the Trump administration did earlier this year with a $9 billion package to rescind funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting, but the 1974 Congressional Budget Act prohibits the executive branch from doing so unilaterally.

But the Trump administration has also found ways to circumvent the rules in other instances, including with temporary “holds” on targeted accounts. Democrats and some GOP appropriators have pushed back on such maneuvers, arguing it undermines Congress’ “power of the purse” as laid out in the Constitution.

The comptroller general, who leads the GAO, can sue in federal court under the 1974 law for the release of appropriations that have been illegally impounded.

Security boost, Library of Congress remains flat

In addition to the overall increase to the Capitol Police budget, Republican and Democratic appropriators touted $203.5 million in funding dedicated to enhancing security.

Threats against members and staff have been elevated since the first Trump administration, according to Capitol Police figures. But the assassination of Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman in June and of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk in September have raised concerns across Capitol Hill.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: GAO, Library of Congress avoid cuts in Legislative Branch bill – Roll Call

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