Republican lawmakers reportedly worry that a government shutdown could result from Democrats being angry at passage of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act and a $9 billion rescissions package.
The GOP will need help from Democrats, especially in the Senate where 60 votes are needed to avoid a filibuster, to keep the government funded later this year. Even some Republicans may not be on board.
Already, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, and panel member Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted against Trump's rescissions package that was passed last week.
That came after Trump on July 4 signed his tax cut and spending megabill that Congress approved.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has warned members not to expect "business as usual," The Hill reported Monday.
With the White House expected to send more spending rescissions to Congress, a senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee said the chances of a shutdown was at "a real square 50-50" and that another rescissions package "will be met with mixed results," The Hill reported.
"I agree with [Senate Majority Leader] John Thune [R-S.D.] that we need to get to a regular appropriations process, and I think it gets in the way of that," the senator said. "So the timing, if they do another one, is going to have to be better timed and [have] much more detail."
Another Republican senator cited "very unhappy" Democrats after the House gave final approval to Trump's request to claw back about $9 billion in funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday.
"You got some of them that are running for president, you got some of them that are running for majority or minority leader over there," the senator said, The Hill reported. "So I think they're going to fight for us no matter what, and I think they see government funding as one of those places they want to fight."
"We know that no matter what we do they're ready to have that fight already. They're going to want to fight," the GOP senator added.
Despite their ire over the cuts, Democrats aren't displaying a unified strategy against a future rescissions package 10 weeks out from a shutdown deadline, Politico reported.
The fact is, they have little power to influence the legislation Trump and the GOP-led Congress seek to pass.
"To be blunt, I don't think there's one tactic or approach that is going to solve this from any individual Democrat," Appropriations Committee member Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Politico. "The Republicans have to decide whether they want to be totally lobotomized or not."
AFP contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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