Schumer tees up Senate stopgap vote after House bill dies

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday set up a vote on a stopgap bill in his chamber following the failed attempt to pass a government funding patch out of the House. 

Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, announced on the Senate floor that he would set up a procedural vote for a continuing resolution, but the upper chamber has yet to produce legislation for a stopgap. 

His push comes after House Speaker Mike Johnson’s six-month stopgap, which included the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, was defeated by Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday and with just seven working days left in Washington before lawmakers break for October.  

“You need a bipartisan agreement to get things done, and hopefully Speaker Johnson will learn that,” Mr. Schumer told reporters. “By trying the partisan route, he’s flopped, totally flopped right on his face.”

“Many Republican House members … are smart enough to know that if there’s a shutdown, it will be a Republican shutdown, that people know Democrats do not want a shutdown,” he continued. “And they realize that Donald Trump, when it comes to legislating, doesn’t know what the heck he’s talking about.”

Mr. Schumer declined to say whether he’s talked to Mr. Johnson, noting, “I’m not negotiating in public.”

After the failed vote, Mr. Johnson said he was going back to the drawing board to produce another stopgap bill. 

The legislation that either chamber produces will likely look wildly different from the speaker’s partisan bill. 

Democrats will likely push for more disaster aid in a stopgap, more money for the Secret Service following a second assassination attempt on Mr. Trump and money to shore up a budget shortfall at Veterans Affairs, all of which could be a prickly ask of Republicans. 

Appropriators of both parties are keen on a shorter stopgap bill, eyeing a December end date rather than March, which is more typical of a short-term funding patch. 

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, would not comment on what another stopgap from the House might look like, but noted it’s up to Mr. Johnson to decide on the next play. 

“He never talked about plan B; you don’t do that until you see what happens to plan A,” Mr. Cole said. “But again, I’m sure he’ll come back with something. I’m very confident we’re not going to let the government shut down.”