‘Tremendous mistake’: Democrats turn on each other in fight over Trump ‘slush fund’

“It will be devastating, something like we have never seen before … they could stay in shutdown for weeks, months, even years.”

Schumer raised the spectre of the courts running out of money within weeks, depleting Democrats and other interest groups of one of the main tools they have to fight the impulses and decisions of the administration.

But that did not persuade Pelosi, nor younger Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman from New York, who said Schumer was making a “tremendous mistake”.

“This [bill] turns the federal government into a slush fund for Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” she told CNN.

“It sacrifices congressional authority and it is deeply partisan. To me, it is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to hand one of the few pieces of leverage we have away for free.”

Ocasio-Cortez pushed an alternative House Democrat proposal that would have extended funding for just 30 days, rather than six months.

The White House spruiked the bill following its passage late on Friday, US time, noting it contained $US485 million for migrant deportations and another $136 million for immigration prisons, as well as funding for the Coast Guard, veterans’ benefits and air traffic control operations.

President Donald Trump said he was impressed by Schumer, who “did the right thing”. The President was expected to sign the bill into law from his Florida home, the Mar-a-lago, having left Washington on Friday evening joined by Musk, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and senior advisers.

Jeffries, the leader of the Democrats in the House, declined to explicitly support Schumer on Friday. Asked whether it was time for new leadership in the Senate, he said: “Next question.”

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Asked whether Schumer had acquiesced to Trump, Jeffries replied: “That’s a question that is best addressed by the Senate.”

He said he and Schumer had spoken multiple times during the week but the contents of those conversations would remain private.

The episode has highlighted Democratic divisions and a party that is yet to regroup from its loss to Trump in November. MoveOn, a progressive group that claims nearly 10 million members nationwide, predicted that its activists would demand answers from Democratic officials in the coming days.

Spokesman Joel Payne said clearing the way for Trump and Musk to “gut” Social Security and Medicare was unacceptable. “It’s past time for Democrats to fight and stop acting like it’s business as usual,” he said.

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with AP

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