Funding for the federal government will run out on September 30, unless Congress passes additional funding and the president signs that funding into law. Failing that, the government will shut down on October 1.

This sort of funding deadline is pretty common. As with all things in life, deadlines such as these are often required in order to spur people into action. When it comes to congressional leaders, that means it is time for them to get serious about striking a bipartisan compromise to fund the government, as 60 votes are required for government funding bills to pass the Senate.

If government funding were only up to members of Congress, it seems like Democrats and Republicans would have no real difficulty securing a deal to keep everything running. The Hill reports:

Congressional leaders are trying to de-escalate a standoff over the Sept. 30 government funding deadline, with both Republicans and Democrats signaling they’d be open to a 45-day or possibly longer “clean” continuing resolution that would not include substantial funding cuts.(...)

If the matter were left entirely to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the “four corners” would likely reach a deal quickly on a clean short-term funding deal, lawmakers in both parties say.

The problem, as you may have guessed, is that Donald Trump is currently the president. Trump does not engage in bipartisan deal making. He governs in a performative manner, where the show is always the same: his political opponents must bow down and submit to him, or else suffer the consequences.

In December, Trump ripped up a bipartisan funding bill, only to mostly relent after he was humiliated on a debt ceiling vote. In March, Trump made Republicans in Congress cut off negotiations with Democrats, and insisted on six month spending bill with small-ish cuts to domestic spending. Democrats mostly opposed the bill, but enough Democrats in the Senate feared that a shutdown might be worse than the small-ish cuts in Trump's bill to allow it to pass into law. The result was a bitter division among Democrats, and lots of anger (which I do not personally think was justified) directed at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

This time around, it appears that Democrats are not only more united, but that Republicans in Congress know Democrats are more united. Here is an interesting passage toward the end of the article in The Hill that I linked to above:

The spending measure Congress passed in March cut nondefense funding by $7 billion compared to a fiscal 2024 agreement that President Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) struck in what became the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

It also cut nondefense funding by $15 billion relative to the fiscal 2025 agreement between Biden and McCarthy.

Conservatives now acknowledge the House won’t be able to jam Senate Democrats with spending cuts this month.

“I don’t know that’s going to be realistic to do that,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a prominent fiscal hawk, said when asked if he would press for spending cuts in a continuing resolution.

If Trump tries to blow up what appears to be an imminent bipartisan deal to fund the government by demanding concessions in the form of domestic spending cuts from Democrats, and if Democrats in Congress are united enough to be willing to stand up to Trump over this even it is results in a government shutdown, then we need to let Democrats know that we will support them.

Please, sign the petition letting Senate Democrats know that you will support them if they stand united against any demands that Donald Trump might make for domestic spending cuts in order to keep the government open. As a constituent of Chuck Schumer's, I will deliver the signatures to his office via email on September 29.

Note: Signing this petition will not result in receiving emails from any organization other than Bowers News Media. After you sign the petition, you will be redirected to an ActBlue page asking you to make a donation to Bowers News Media PAC. However, no donation is required for your signature to be recorded.