Former CNN analyst Chris Cillizza said that some Democrats have surrendered and pledged support for Republicans’ spending bill for three strategic reasons in a video posted Friday.
Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate minority leader, announced he would support a GOP-backed government funding bill through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, during a speech on the Senate floor Thursday. Cillizza said one of the reasons was that Schumer realized his caucus wasn’t united behind a shutdown.
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“Reason number one that Democrats gave in: They didn’t have the votes. Schumer is not going to be someone who’s just going to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to be for this resolution,’” Cillizza said. “Twenty-four hours before, he came out and said he was against it and that Republicans didn’t have the votes. Well, they got the votes.”
“I would guess a lot of swing state Democrats, Democrats up in 2026 did not want to close the government and Schumer is sort of following the herd in that regard. He’s the leader, his job is to kind of read the temperature of the room,” Cillizza continued.
Some Democrats argued in favor of denying Republicans the votes to overcome a filibuster on the spending bill, but Schumer argued it would be “a costly distraction” to the fight against President Donald Trump during his speech on the Senate floor. Cillizza appeared to agree with the argument.
“Number two: They want to fight on ground they think is more favorable for them,” Cillizza said. “So the story before this week — and even leading into this today — is stock market down, Trump’s tariffs causing uncertainty, Elon Musk. These are all stories that are bad for Democrats, uh, Republicans excuse me. These are all stories that drive a negative storyline for Republicans.”
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Democrats have criticized Trump’s use of tariffs as a foreign policy strategy to not only decrease illegal immigration, but to correct what considers to be unfair trade practices in order to benefit the U.S. While overall inflation slowed in February, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7.17% of its value since Feb. 14, according to the Wall Street Journal, fueled by worries over the ongoing trade disputes with the European Union and Canada.
Cillizza also said that Democrats feared what the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) might do if agencies are closed during a shutdown.
“The third reason … Democrats, I think, were wary of shutting down the government and giving even more power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk because I do think there are at least some talk that parts of the government might not ever reopen if they shut it down,” Cillizza said. “This would be an opportunity for Musk and Trump — who obviously are very focused on reducing the federal workforce — to say, ‘How important can the government be? You guys were willing to shut it down.’”
DOGE has identified at least $115 billion in savings, an average of $714.29 per taxpayer, by reducing financial waste and the size of the federal workforce, according to its website.
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