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Tags: kilmenyduchardt | stopgap | fundingbill | senate

Kilmeny Duchardt to Newsmax: Threat of Shutdown Split Democrats

By James Morley III | Friday, 14 March 2025 08:38 PM EDT

Following the breaking news of the Senate passing a continuing resolution bill, congressional correspondent Kilmeny Duchardt told Newsmax on Friday that “the threat of this shutdown has quite literally split the Democrats.”

Mere hours before the 11:59 deadline, the Senate passed a six-month stopgap bill by a vote of 54-46 to fund the government until September. Despite assurances to the contrary, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., went against the majority in his party and his own intentions from a day before and voted with the Republicans.

Duchardt noted that Schumer “was not in favor of this CR but he agreed that shutting down the government would be worse.”

“That's a lot of the sentiment that we heard from Democratic senators on this. But something unprecedented happened. House Democrats actually came back from their retreat in recess to lobby these Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill. Begging the question about unity within the party right now,” Duchardt said during an appearance on “The Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

Duchardt spoke of her exchange with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries where she noted the obvious disunity saying, “Your party is not on the same page here. Schumer is arguing that a shutdown would be more catastrophic.”

“Schumer's entire argument was the fact that shutting down the government would give the White House power over which federal agencies may remain open. And it could, of course, create the argument for President Trump and Elon Musk that, hey, some of these federal agencies weren't necessary in the first place,” Duchardt added.