Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday warned of a government shutdown this fall if Republicans refuse to negotiate on defense spending tied to the ongoing Iran conflict, setting up another fiscal standoff weeks after the Senate lost two of its most powerful deal-makers.
In a letter to Senate Democrats, Schumer accused Republicans of “manufacturing a partisan process” for annual spending talks and said his caucus would not rubber-stamp a defense budget he called “bloated” and “partisan.”
“Eleven weeks remain,” Schumer wrote. “Time enough for Republicans to abandon my-way-or-the-highway budgeting and begin the serious bipartisan negotiations required to fund the government responsibly.”
Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government for fiscal year 2027. Failure to reach a deal would trigger a shutdown Oct. 1.
The White House has requested $1.5 trillion for defense amid the conflict with Iran. President Trump has also asked Congress to pass a budget reconciliation bill with $350 billion in additional defense funding, bypassing the traditional bipartisan appropriations process by using a simple Senate majority.
Democrats are blocking the National Defense Authorization Act, which typically passes with broad bipartisan support. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) called the bill “essentially an Iran War authorization bill” and announced Monday he would vote no. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said he was voting against it as well. “We haven’t even had an up-or-down vote to authorize this war in the first place,” Schatz posted on social media.
The standoff comes as Senate Republicans absorb two major absences. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who died Saturday of an apparent aortic dissection, had chaired the Senate Budget Committee and was the architect of the reconciliation bill that funded immigration enforcement after Democrats forced a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who chairs the defense spending subcommittee responsible for bipartisan appropriations deals, remains hospitalized following a fall and has not announced a return date.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) now faces the task of advancing the NDAA, the SAVE Act on voter eligibility, and a potential third reconciliation bill, all against a compressed timeline and with his two most experienced negotiators sidelined.
Trump’s second term has already produced two government shutdowns: a 43-day closure from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 over health insurance subsidies, and a partial DHS shutdown from Feb. 14 to April 30 over immigration enforcement funding. Democrats triggered both.
