“She seems to be making the case against allowing the government to shut down,” Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio wrote on X, after eavesdropping on the tense meeting, which lasted for more than an hour.
Ahead of the procedural vote, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pleaded with Democratic senators to defy Schumer and vote against the GOP-crafted measure.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“[T]his false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable,” she added.