Trump congratulates Schumer for doing ‘right thing’ on CR

President Trump on Friday congratulated Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) for opting to vote to advance the House-Republican drafted six-month government funding bill, despite pushback from liberal colleagues.

“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage! The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights,” Trump said on Trump Social.

He continued, “Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning! DJT”

Schumer surprised Washington on Thursday when he announced on the Senate floor that he would vote to advance the funding bill, providing crucial political cover to Senate Democratic centrists after a tense internal debate over whether to vote for the bill to keep the government open. The deadline to avert a government shutdown is 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Schumer acknowledged in his announcement that the House bill is “very bad” but warned that a government shutdown would produce a far worse result. He argued that a shutdown “would give Donald Trump and Elon Musk carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now.”

Schumer, a day prior, told Republicans there weren’t enough votes to pass the House bill and called for a clean CR to provide a one-month extension. But, Republican senators rejected the idea of a 30-day government funding stopgap, arguing the House had already left town ahead of the Friday deadline.

Senate Democratic liberals and progressive activists were pressuring centrists to defeat the House bill, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who argued that it would give Trump and Musk “a blank check to spend your taxpayer money however they want.”

Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), urged supporters on social media to call Democratic senators and ask them to “vote NO on Cloture and NO on the Republican spending bill.”