Senate Democrats are dancing with the devil in the sinister form of a Schumer shutdown.

Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) announced Wednesday afternoon following a lunch with his Democrat caucus that he would reject a House-passed government plan to keep the government funded past the Friday deadline through the end of the fiscal year, September 30.

“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”

Legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to invoke cloture – a necessary step in ending debate and advancing a bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is calling Schumer’s bluff. He moved forward Wednesday evening to schedule a vote to invoke cloture Friday.

Thune has 53 Republicans to Schumer’s 47 Democrats, although Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has stated he will oppose the CR. Therefore, eight Democrats will be needed to invoke cloture and fast track the bill.

The relatively-clean continuing resolution (CR) totals only 99 pages, and includes minimal modifications to current spending levels – including $485 million for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requested by President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, to facilitate continued deportations.

Outside of those minor modifications, Democrats overwhelmingly supported these spending levels in December, although freezing current spending levels throughout an entire fiscal year would be a monumental achievement for Republican spending hawks.

The CR passed the House Tuesday with one Democrat in support and one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), bucking his party. Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other top Trump administration officials invested significant political capital to pass the bill.

The ball is now in the hands of Senate Democrats, unaccustomed to the pressure of being down late with possession and the game on the line.

Yet despite their tough posturing, Democrats, who have vociferously protested Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) freezing of federal funds and firing of government employees, may face a Hobson’s choice on the bill.

By rejecting the House-passed CR and triggering a shutdown, Democrats would furlough hundreds of thousands of government employees, undermining their projected concerns for those workers.

Since Trump returned to office, essentially the only policy Democrats have successfully coalesced against is Trump’s termination of government employees and funding and hiring freezes. Shutting down the government and rejecting spending levels Democrats overwhelming supported in December would render their lone message moot.

With Republicans holding the upper hand and no Democrat thus far emerging as the party’s messaging and moral leader in the second age of Trump, Democrats are unlikely to extract any concessions from Republicans – who hold the Senate, House, White House, momentum, and seemingly all the cards.

If Democrats ultimately reject Thune’s CR and trigger a shutdown, it is unlikely Republicans would concede anything significant to Democrats to entice them to end it.

And clips of Democrats rejecting shutdown politics in the past would play on endless loops.

Democrats have advocated a 30-day CR to enable work to continue on a massive omnibus bill, and Schumer’s rank-and-file would like Thune to allow a vote on a 30-day CR as an amendment to the House-passed full-fiscal year CR. To entice Thune, Democrats have suggested they would allow a time agreement to enable expedited consideration of the bill.

That is unlikely to happen. Were that amendment (or any other) to be successful, it would require the House to return to Washington.

Democrats also demand an amendment vote to ensure Trump cannot spend under appropriated spending levels or continue finding waste, fraud, and abuse through DOGE.

Again, not happening.

But if Thune remains on course and Democrats refuse to allow speedier bill consideration, Democrats face another test.

Without a time agreement, which would require unanimous consent, the soonest a CR might be passed would be Saturday evening, meaning a brief but inconsequential lapse in government funding over the weekend.

Forcing even a brief shutdown by intransigently delaying the inevitable could alone be a black eye for Democrats desperately searching for a party rebrand.

For now, Democrats are publicly signaling they will stand up to Thune. But ultimately, a choice between spending levels they don’t like and a government shutdown might be no choice at all.

Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.