I am well aware that the article has an anti Trump slant. It cites facts and evidence. The way Fetterman voted is a matter of public record. His meeting with Trump and joining Truth Social are facts. Unless they fabricated the quotes, those are facts,
Based on those facts, I stand behind my earlier reactions.
Fetterman seemed to change after he had that stroke. I guess the brain damage must have changed his political beliefs. 
The Republican party is currently engaged in gutting or totally shutting down large portions of the government. They are actively assisting or just standing by while Trump destroys our democracy and replaces it with a fascist dictatorship.
How does the Democrats voting to keep funding those two things help the situation?
Because shutting down the government is what the MAGA morons want. And, it is trump, not the party. Remember, all that stuff DOGE is trying to cancel was approved by a Republican House.
Trying to???
Where to begin?
No it is not. They want DOGE to keep ‘eliminating government waste’ and to help Trump make this a fascist dictatorship.
Since his first term, the Republican party has been remade from an organization with actual principles into the party of MAGA and Trump. Remember what happened to Liz Cheney?
None of them objected to DOGE since it started destroying the government.
I had the same thought, so I looked into it.
It’s not a clean bill. It provides top-line numbers but is missing almost all of the agency directive language typical to a CR. The type of language that is currently being used in the courts to stop some of the DOGE attacks. This bill removes most of that language, which would allow the executive to move funds within agencies at their whim.
There are also a few specific budgetary changes as well, but what I already mentioned is the objectionable part.
ETA: and the GOP needs democratic votes because this is not a reconciliation package so it can be filibustered. They don’t want to waste one of their reconciliation bills on this since they need it for the tax cuts
The courts have overruled a lot of it.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/12/house-senate-republicans-trump-doge
What we’re hearing: Several House Republicans told Axios they have succeeded in — or at least contributed to — getting DOGE to reverse certain cuts through private back-channeling.
** Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.) said he raised concerns about job cuts at the Bonneville Power Administration: “Whether it was my remarks back to DOGE or somebody else’s, it got fixed. They … hired back 30 people.”*
** Said Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa): “When we have heard from constituents who have been directly impacted by this in a way that harmed them, I have reached out directly to the agencies and teams.”*
** Nunn cited Agriculture Department cuts that “could … have impacted farmers” in his district, telling Axios he “talked to the administration on it, they recognized it, they heard it, and we got those positions reinstated.”*
Even though Bacon supports the idea of shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the latest agency the administration has unilaterally shuttered, he argued that Trump can’t ultimately usurp Congress.
“Congress has to catch up to the plan or the president’s plan has to be revised. Because the law is law,” Bacon said. “We have got to follow the law. If there are things we have to redirect, let’s do it the constitutional way.”
The courts cannot overrule a thing that DOGE has not done.
As I pointed out, this CR removes much of the funding guideline language that requires certain appropriations go to specific programs or activities. Without that language, courts will no longer be able to intervene to require that DOGE follow the law, since they will be.
At least that’s my understanding of the situation. The text of the bill itself is so byzantine there is no way to make heads or tails of it as a non-expert.
Fetterman and Gilibrand are reportedly in with the Surrender Caucus.
They’re already shutting down the government. What’s the point of funding the government if Trump and Musk aren’t following the funding?
Sadly I also voted for Fetterman and have been profoundly disappointed.
I feel betrayed.
For me the most important factor is that a shutdown slows down everything else. They won’t be able to pass the “big beautiful” tax cut budget bill until they get the government open again.
Democrats best strategy right now is to stall, delay, tie things up in court, and force the GOP to come to the table if they want to get anything done. Just like the GOP did when they were the minority.
Will the public hold them responsible? Who cares. The GOP has shut down the government multiple times and they certainly haven’t seemed to pay any political price for it.
People blamed Democrats for worldwide inflation just because they were in power in the US.
They will blame Republicans for the government shutdown because they are in power.
Oh, not all of them will. The Republicans will put out propaganda and many people will buy it. But most people will ask if this is what they voted for. Voters are generally simple people as a whole.
Actually, I can think of a simpler rule for Senate Democrats. Will your vote make Trump happy? If so, don’t do it.
Only vote yes when he is complaining loudly about those stupid Democrats harming our country with their awful compromise CR. When he’s trying to strong-arm GOP members to vote against it, that’s when you know you have a deal worth voting yes on.
Otherwise make them do it themselves. If they have to nuke the filibuster, fine. Democrats aren’t getting a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for a long long time so not having to get 60 votes once they are back in power sounds great to me.
Key thing to tell your Democratic Senator: Vote no on CLOTURE for the continuing resolution. Updated vote tally on cloture for the continuing resolution:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/senate-cloture-vote-tally
Explainer on what that means for the current struggle:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/my-best-understanding-of-the-current-senate-state-of-play
There are two votes we’re talking about. There’s the vote on the bill — which is a straight majority vote and basically symbolic in these circumstances. Then there’s a vote on “cloture.” That’s a weird word. But that basically means the 60-vote threshold, the only vote Democrats can win since they’re in the minority. So the real issue here is the “cloture” vote. Forget that it’s a weird word and just focus on the fact that it is the real vote in this case.
Durbin (IL) has no public position on the issue. Duckworth (IL) has no public position on cloture. There is only one yes: that’s from Fetterman who hails from PA, a state that went for Trump. In blue California, Padilla has told a constitutent that he is No for cloture. Schiff has come out against the CR on substack: just today he came out against cloture. (I’ll email Josh with the news.)
The point: this is a fluid situation, and it doesn’t break down easily between safe states and swing states.
ETA:
Schiff: “I’m a hard NO on the Republican spending bill. On cloture. On all of it. When a wannabe dictator is trying to seize power, it must not be given to him. Not without a fight.”
Yes, that’s my take. Not without a fight.
ETA2: Fetterman has locked himself in. If you are a PA resident call him anyway. And call him again when he does the right thing on a different issue in the future. This is a red alert big vote, but we have a long fight ahead of us as well.
ETA3: Senator Schiff: bolding removed, paragraphing removed:
So, for me personally, this is not a hard decision. I am a hard no. I am desperately worried about the direction of this country. We are seeing an executive run away with authority he does not have, merely because he claims to have it, merely because our courts have often acted too slowly to stop him. And now, if we go along with this because we are willfully and willingly ceding him that additional power. I will not go there. I’m voting no. I urge all of my colleagues: Vote no.
Echoes of Timothy Snyder.
Not without a fight
FAFO
No more of their dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Slotkin - knows how I feel about it
This is a not-inconsiderable point.
I fully understand the appeal of the “DON’T GIVE THEM A SINGLE VOTE” position. I just think it needs to be rooted in smart tactics. Dems have so little power; this one thing (the cloture vote) is about all they have.
If they’re going to withhold the seven or eight (depending on Rand Paul) votes for cloture that the GOP needs, they need to MESSAGE clearly why. They need to push back against the GOP “this is about Dems wanting to shut down government” distortion.
The CR bill isn’t about keeping government open. It’s about giving Trump/Musk powers to gut the government that they don’t yet have. Upthread the head of the largest public workers union (AFGE), Everett B. Kelley, was quoted on the subject. Here’s the gist:
If Dems are going to tank the bill they need to message that the bill is NOT about ‘keeping government open’—it’s about ENABLING Trump/Musk to do even more harm to Americans than they’re doing now.
.
.
linked upthread by @Measure_for_Measure
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/biggest-federal-employee-unions-says-shutdown-is-preferable-to-elon-trump-cr
I would have replied sooner. I wanted to wait until I was done work so I could give the articles you linked to my full attention.
I am unsure, after reading the first article, just what Rand Paul wants. I gather he is opposed to DOGE. I don’t know if he objects to the existence and action of DOGE in general or just specific cuts.
The Axios article is clearer. A few Republicans object when the leopard eats the face of their constituents. They do not seem to object to the existence of DOGE or cuts that do not affect their home state. I belive one Republican expressed a concern about “national security”, If they explained what they meant by that term, I missed it.
From the last link
So, I was technically incorrect. We have Rand Paul, who is objecting to foreign aid being cut. We have a few Republicans trying to keep voters in their state from losing jobs.
And we have the rest of the party standing by while DOGE keeps slashing away.