Government Shutdown Looms as Partisan Standoff Deepens in Congress

Congressional lawmakers are trading blame over the looming government shutdown, with funding set to expire in less than four weeks. House Speaker Mike Johnson blames Democrats for rejecting "common sense solutions," while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer puts the onus on Republicans for threatening a shutdown. Lawmakers may pass short-term funding bills or a series of continuing resolutions to keep federal agencies funded.

Congressional lawmakers are trading blame over the looming government shutdown, with funding set to expire in less than four weeks. The U.S. Congress returns on Tuesday with less than a month left to perform one of its core functions—keeping federal agencies funded and averting a partial government shutdown—a job it has struggled to perform in recent years [1].

House Speaker Mike Johnson blames Democrats for rejecting "common sense solutions," while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer puts the onus on Republicans for threatening a shutdown [2]. Lawmakers may pass short-term funding bills or a series of continuing resolutions to keep federal agencies funded, as they did in the past.

The chamber's bitter partisan divides have hardened in the first year of President Donald Trump's new administration, which has angered Democratic lawmakers by deciding not to spend some money previously approved under bipartisan deals, as well as the July passage of a tax-cut bill that nonpartisan analysts said could cause more than 10 million low-income Americans to lose healthcare coverage [1].

The U.S. federal debt is $37.25 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. It has continued to grow under Republican and Democratic administrations as the U.S. Congress continues to authorize the federal government to spend more money than it takes in [1].

The debate comes after a federal appeals court overturned President Donald Trump's tariffs, which could blow a $4 trillion hole in his budget over the next decade [2]. Trump has antagonized some fellow Republicans in the narrowly divided Congress by refusing to spend billions of dollars that lawmakers have already approved [2].

Senate Democratic leader Schumer warns of 'sharp contrast' with GOP
Senate Republicans are pushing for a short-term funding patch to allow time for a yearlong agreement. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, urged his colleagues Sept. 2 to prevent Republicans from helping what he called Trump's move toward authoritarianism [2].

"Senate Republicans must decide: stand up for the legislative branch or enable Trump’s slide toward authoritarianism," Schumer wrote [2]. Schumer said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, agreed.

Mike Marinella, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm for the House GOP, said Jeffries and his "radical party" would "rather play politics than govern" [2].

"While Republicans are focused on keeping the government open and working for the American people, Democrats are threatening chaos to protect their extremist agenda," Marinella said in a statement [2].

GOP Sen. Collins disputes Trump's spending cuts
A key Senate Republican has already challenged Trump's move to cut nearly $5 billion that Congress approved for foreign aid, setting up a clash among members of the president's own party [2]. Trump notified House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, in a one-page letter Aug. 28 that he planned to rescind 15 expenditures totaling $4.9 billion from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development [2].

"Any effort to rescind appropriated funds without congressional approval is a clear violation of the law," Collins said on Aug. 29 [2].

Congress could block Trump's move, but it's unclear whether that will happen [2].

Appeals court overturned Trump tariffs as funding fight heats up
The fight over government spending rekindled after a federal appeals court overturned Trump’s significant new funding by collecting tariffs on imports from other countries [2]. The crux of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s 7-4 decision on Aug. 29 was that Trump had overstepped his authority by imposing tariffs based on the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act [2].

The decision could knock a $4 trillion hole in Trump’s budget over the next decade [2]. The Congressional Budget Office projected the tariffs would raise $3.3 trillion and reduce debt by $700 billion during that period [2].

The appeals court left the tariffs in place until Oct. 14 to give the administration a chance to appeal [2]. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would appeal to the Supreme Court [2].

But a decision from the high court might not arrive before the spending clash comes to a head in Congress [2]. Trump acknowledged the financial dilemma a loss of tariffs would create [2].

"Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end," Trump said on social media [2]. "If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong."

Labor unions and activists protest against Trump
Negotiations over federal spending come after a Labor Day weekend of protests organized by unions and community activists against the Trump administration [2]. The rallies aimed to demonstrate the power of the working class in cities including Boston, Chicago, Detroit and New York [2].

Hundreds of protesters gathered in New York across Fifth Avenue from Trump Tower [2]. The protesters handed out tacos, after some critics adopted the acronym TACO for "Trump always chickens out" [2]. The protesters also chanted slogans such as “New York is a working town” [2].

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, told USA TODAY: “No one has done more for working men and women than President Trump” [2].

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the difficulties in passing a full-year budget and vowed to Newsmax on Tuesday that the government will be kept running [3]. Marshall, who is a member of the Senate Budget Committee, told "Wake Up America" that "we'll keep the government open, one way or the other, but this is all about the Schumer shutdown" [3].

Marshall emphasized that Senate Republicans have "done our job," explaining that there are 12 buckets to get to in order to fund the government [3]. "The Senate Finance Committee has eight of those done, super majorities, but Chuck Schumer won't let us bring those to a floor for a vote," he said [3].

References:
[1] https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-congress-returns-with-one-month-avert-government-shutdown-2025-09-02/
[2] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/02/congress-potential-government-shutdown/85936596007/
[3] https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/09/02/congress/johnson-says-shutdown-ball-is-in-democrats-corner-00540013