As government shutdown looms, Sen. Tim Kaine says 'there's a better way' to pass a funding bill
As a government shutdown nears, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says that he and his Democratic caucus will not provide the support needed to pass the funding bill that House Republicans muscled through their chamber.
The bill would extend government funding through September.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says he opposes the Republican-backed funding bill because it would weaken national defense. He says he’s not in favor of a shutdown either, and is pushing Republicans to support a short-term funding extension, through April 11, which he says would give both sides more time to negotiate.
“The House passed this pure-Republican bill without any input from Democrats. That hurts our national defense,” Kaine says. "?I had Republican colleagues say it's a horrible idea to do a full-year continuing resolution. It will hurt national defense. So why should we accept it? There's a better way to do this.”
5 questions with Sen. Kim Kaine
What is a better way to go about this funding bill?
“What we ought to do is extend the existing funding just for 30 days. No bells and whistles, no changes, and then negotiate not a full-year continuing resolution, which everybody says is a bad idea, but we can negotiate an actual appropriations bill like we always do. And we're very close to doing it.”
Do you think Republicans could shift the blame onto Democrats?
“I don't really think so because this is a pure Republican bill. And I don't want to concede that we wouldn't have the votes for this 30-day extension. Again, the House pulled a slick move when they voted on their bill and sent it over on Tuesday night, they adjourned then left town.
“It's like, ‘We'll show you. You'll have to accept a bill that hurts national defense because we left town.’ Hey, get your butts back here.
“If we do this 30-day extension, we can negotiate an actual budget that will be good for the country, good for defense, good for education, good for health, that will stop the chainsaw massacre that [President] Trump and [Elon] Musk are engaged in.
“Let's do it the right way rather than just accept what the speaker has sent over. He's the speaker of the House. He's not the czar of the Senate.”
Is this spending bill effective when Trump is ignoring Congress and stopping funding on his own?
“The House [continuing resolution] that they sent over to us has a number for the Department of Education. But as they were sending the bill over, Secretary [Linda] McMahon and President Trump were shuttering the Department of Education, which is created by Congress in statute.
“One of the other reasons that I don't really like the House CR is it explicitly hands even more decision-making power to Donald Trump, away from Congress. It's one thing for them to seize power. It's another thing for the Article 1 branch to vote to just give him the power. No, we've got a role in this too.”
What are Democrats going to do?
“I'm voting 'no' on the House bill. If they give us the ability to offer this amendment of the 30-day extension, we can get to a negotiated position. But I'm voting no on the Republican, ‘take it or leave it. We want to hand the keys to Donald Trump and Elon Musk and, oh, you have to vote for this.’ No, I don't. I don't have to vote for it. I'm not going to.”
What do you say to people calling for the Democratic Party to stand up to Trump more?
"?I'm in the minority in the Senate, but every time I have an opportunity, I challenge this president. I challenged his sham energy emergency last month, and I got all Democrats on board with it, but the Republicans are the ones that aren't willing to stand up even for their own prerogatives.
“The Democrats, we're a big tent party, and when you get a big tent, you get a big spread of ideology and ideas and strategy, but I'm a civil rights lawyer from the South. I've been standing up my whole life, and we've turned Virginia from a red state to a very competitive leaning blue state by fighting battles. And I relish the ones that I'm fighting against this president when he's doing things wrong for the country.”