Republicans Bank on Democrats Caving in Shutdown Standoff [VERTICAL]

Republicans bank on Democrats caving in shutdown standoff.

Transcript

00:00The last time the government shut down was during President Donald Trump's first term in office,

00:04in December 2018. It lasted for a total of 35 days, the longest government shutdown in the

00:10modern era. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers didn't receive a timely paycheck,

00:14national parks closed, and airports had massive delays. So will there be another government

00:19shutdown at midnight on Friday, March 14? I'm outside the Capitol building where Senate

00:24Democrats right now are deciding if they will support the Republican spending plan that has

00:29already passed the House. And you might be thinking, well, wait a minute, don't Republicans

00:33control the House, the Senate, and the White House? Why do they need Democrats? That's because

00:39of the filibuster. It's a tool in the Senate that's often used by the minority party to delay

00:43consideration of bills. And so 60 votes are needed to defeat a filibuster, but Republicans hold 53

00:49seats in the Senate, so they need seven votes from across the aisle. And that's putting intense

00:54pressure on Senate Democrats who want to stop the Trump administration's march on federal

00:58operations. So the choice before them is to provide the votes needed to advance the package or stand

01:05in the way of passing the funding bill in time to avoid a shutdown when the money expires on March

01:1014. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says there won't be enough defections from Democrats

01:15to pass the Republican bill. Democrats are pushing their own proposal, a stopgap 30-day funding bill

01:21as an alternative to the Republican plan to fund operations through the end of the budget year in

01:26September. But the prospects of that 30-day stopgap measure are dim in the Republican Congress. So

01:33it's more likely that Senate Democrats are going to have to decide if they want to vote for the

01:38Republican bill or not. Now, progressive Democrats are pushing senators to draw the line against

01:43Trump, even if it forces a costly government shutdown. They say the House GOP bill will

01:49further enable Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency. And they believe that if

01:53the government does shut down, the blame will be on Republicans since they are the party in power.

01:59And they really view the possibility of forcing a shutdown as one of the few points of leverage

02:04Democrats have as the minority in both chambers. And as of Thursday afternoon, only one Democrat

02:10has said they would back the House-passed measure, and that's Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

02:16Several Senate Republicans are predicting that Democrats will

02:19ultimately fold and avoid a shutdown at the last minute. But it's still too early to tell

02:24if seven or more Democrats are going to vote for the House-passed funding bill.