WASHINGTON — The nation’s capital was nervously focused all week on whether the federal government would shut down over the weekend.
After the U.S. House on Tuesday narrowly approved a short-term spending bill that would avert a shutdown and fund the federal government through Sept. 30, all attention was focused on Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
That has put Minnesota’s senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, in a tight spot. They can either support the House GOP bill — called a continuing resolution, or CR — which cuts a number of domestic programs championed by the two Democrats, or risk a government shutdown for which their party will be blamed.
While Republicans narrowly control the Senate, 60 votes are needed to overcome an expected filibuster and the GOP only holds 53 seats in that chamber.
That means at least seven Democratic senators would have to vote to end a filibuster that would block the CR. If not, the federal government would be shuttered.
In a turnabout, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, who had said the day before that no Democrat would vote for the bill, told Democratic senators Thursday evening to support it and vote to end the filibuster.
“For sure the Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer said on the Senate floor after a contentious meeting with Senate Democrats. “But I believe that allowing Donald Trump to take … much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
Schumer’s change of heart means the CR is almost certain to pass and a shutdown will be avoided. But many Senate Democrats had argued passionately against supporting the bill and rank-and-file Democrats protested the move.
Smith said she would not vote to end the filibuster.
“Donald Trump and Republicans are forcing two terrible choices on us, both of which are bad for the people of this country, and would hand unchecked power to President Trump and Elon Musk as they slash and burn government services on their own terms,” she said in a prepared statement.
Smith said the Republican CR “is not a ‘clean Continuing Resolution’” and “would slash support for fetal alcohol syndrome, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s at the National Institutes of Health.”
“It fails to pay for disaster relief or fund hundreds of millions of dollars for important community projects for Minnesota, from childcare centers in Moorhead to public safety investments for Rochester and supporting rural health care on the Iron Range,” she added. “It would give President Trump vast discretion to allocate funds to reward his political friends and punish those he considers enemies. And this is only a sampling of the damage done by this bill. Therefore, I cannot support it.”
Klobuchar’s office did not immediately respond to requests for information. So far, only one Democratic senator — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — has indicated he’ll vote f
Minnesota farmers lobbying blitz
This was fly-in week for the nation’s farmers and ranchers who swamped Capitol Hill on their traditional spring lobbying blitz.
There have been few times — if any — when the nation’s farmers have had so many issues on their agendas.
Trump-imposed tariffs are threatening to eliminate or sharply shrink overseas markets that have been increasingly important to rural health. Meanwhile, the cost of imported potash and other agricultural inputs are expected to rise sharply as nations hit by new U.S. tariffs retaliate with some of their own.
U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID) contracts with agribusinesses have been eliminated, hurting farmers — especially grain growers in the Midwest — who benefitted from those contracts.
And federal Agriculture Department employees who aid farmers have been laid off.
Meanwhile, GOP efforts to cut federal nutrition programs would add to farmers’ bottom-line woes — as would Department of Government Efficiency elimination of other farm-linked programs.
To add to farm country anxiety, there’s little hope Congress will be able to pass a farm bill this year, leading to another extension of the last farm bill, which was approved in 2018 and which farmers say needs updating.
About 20 Minnesota farmers were here this week to try to find allies on Capitol Hill and capture the ear of the White House.
“We’re concerned with the tariffs, and we need to find a solution,” said Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation President Dan Glessing, who owns a farm in Wright County and was among the farmers looking for answers from Washington.
As for those tariffs, which Trump wants to extend to Europe and elsewhere, the ones imposed on Canada may have the most impact, Glessing said. “We have some things that they need and they have some things that we need,” he said.
Glessing, who attended a meeting Tuesday at the White House, said one big question is, “How long are the tariffs going to be on?”
As far as prospects for a new five-year farm bill go, Glessing said the bitter partisan battles over government funding, which have escalated over a GOP blueprint for the 2026 budget that would sharply cut social welfare programs, have dimmed considerably.
“I think it’s going to be challenging,” he said.
Quinnipiac: Trump job approval numbers slipping
A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are slipping.
Seven weeks after Trump began his second term in the Oval Office, 42% of the registered voters who responded to the poll said they approve of the way he is handling his job while 53% disapprove and 6% did not offer an opinion.
That’s down from Quinnipiac’s Feb. 19 poll, in which 45% of the respondents approved while 49% disapproved and 6% did not offer an opinion.
While most Republicans approved of Trump’s performance in office (89%-9%) and Democrats disapproved (96%-2%) the president is losing the most support among independents, which disapproved of the job Trump is doing by 58%-36%.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents told Quinnipiac pollsters they disapprove of the way Trump handled the recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House while 35% approve. But there was a huge partisan divide on this, and all other issues.
When it came to the economy, 41% approved of Trump’s actions, 54% disapproved, with 5% did not offer an opinion.
And the poll determined the president has lost support on an issue that was once a stronghold for the president — immigration. Forty-nine percent said they disapproved of Trump’s immigration policy, 46% said they approved, and 5% did not offer an opinion.
In other news:
▪️We reported on the anxiety among Minnesota educators in the wake of massive layoffs at the federal Education Department.
▪️Winter Keefer wrote about attorneys who are urging Hennepin County officials and judges to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials out of county buildings.
▪️We also wrote about the elimination of earmarks – essentially, money for local projects – in the spending bill that Congress hopes to pass to avoid a government shutdown.
▪️ The Eden Prairie Local News covered a local meeting with state lawmakers that delved into questions about Trump administration policies. We republished their story, which can be read here.
This and that
We received many comments on our story about federal earmarks, or funding for local projects, which won’t be happening this year because of Congress’ inability to approve appropriations bills. One reader said neither Republican nor Democratic lawmakers should ask for money for these projects.
“Why has the US federal government, until now, continued to spend money that doesn’t exist? Until now, neither political party has been serious about reigning in the federal budget deficit,” the reader said. “Perhaps important Minnesota projects should be funded by (who else?) the state of Minnesota.”
Another reader took issue with Trump administration attempts to cut federal spending while also trying to extend tax cuts estimated to cost the U.S. Treasury at least $4.5 trillion and probably more.
“If you look at his only priority, based on the dollars involved, it is tax cuts mostly for billionaires, who already pay less of their income in taxes than working people, due to tax benefits written for them,” the reader wrote. “Trump’s cuts of the IRS will make it even easier for them to cheat the federal government by tax fraud. It looks as though only about a third of these tax cuts will be funded by budget cuts, and the rest will be covered by borrowed money with interest paid — to the same people who are doing the big time cheating and are getting the permanent tax breaks.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
Ana Radelat
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
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