Senate Democrats Refuse To Go Along With Gop Spending Plan, As Shutdown Deadline Nears

A day before a shutdown deadline, Senate Democrats are mounting a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led government funding bill that already passed the House but failed to slap any limits on President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to gut federal operations.

Senate Democrats are under intense pressure to do whatever they can to stop the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency , which is taking a wrecking ball to long-established government agencies by purging thousands of federal workers from jobs.

Democrats are pushing a stopgap 30-day funding bill as an alternative. But its prospects are dim in the Congress controlled by Republicans. And it's unlikely the Democrats would allow a government shutdown, worried about the further chaos they say Trump and Musk could cause.

As the Senate opened Thursday, with one day to go before Friday's midnight deadline, the Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said: "It's time to fish or cut bait."

Debates over funding the federal government routinely erupt in deadline moments but this year it's showing the political leverage of Republicans, newly in majority control of the White House and Congress, and the shortcomings of Democrats who are finding themselves unable to stop the Trump administration's march across federal operations.