Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was reportedly heard “screaming” Thursday during a meeting with her Democratic Senate colleagues on how to deal with the looming government shutdown.
The New York Democrat was yelling so loudly during the private lunch on Capitol Hill that her voice could be heard through the room’s “thick wood doors,” according to Fox News.
“She seems to be making the case against allowing the government to shut down,” Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio wrote on X, after easily eavesdropping on the tense meeting, which lasted for over an hour.
Gillibrand’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The raucous lunch came as Senate Democrats struggle to unify on how to vote for a House-passed continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for six more months.
If passed by the Senate and signed by President Trump, the stopgap measure would avert a government shutdown set to start Friday at midnight.
Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) indicated that Democrats in the upper chamber were prepared to oppose the Republican-crafted measure – which received only one Democratic vote in the House.
“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. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR,” Schumer said Wednesday.
Schumer preferred an alternative continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for 28 more days as negotiations on a different, longer-term spending deal take place.
Not all Senate Democrats were onboard with Schumer’s plan.
“Any party should never shut the government down,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told reporters Thursday, calling it “a gift for the Republicans” if Democrats block the House-passed bill.
“In fact, if anything, I think, they’re effectively daring us to do that,” the Pennsylvania Democrat continued.
“It wasn’t that long ago before we were lecturing that you can never shut the government down,” Fetterman continued, criticizing Schumer’s resistance. “So that’s kind of inconsistent.”
“We can all agree that it’s not a great CR, but that’s where we are and that’s the choice.”
Hours after Gillibrand’s reported outburst, Schumer backtracked on his opposition to the GOP continuing resolution.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer declared in a Senate floor speech. “Allowing [President] Trump to take even much more power is a far worse option.”
“Under a shutdown, Trump and Elon Musk would have carte blanche to destroy vital government services at a significantly faster rate than they can right now,” he added. “I believe it is my job to make the best choice for the country, to minimize the harms to the American people, therefore, I will vote to keep the government open and not shut it down.”
Senate Republicans, who hold a 53-seat majority but have Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposing the stopgap measure, will need at least eight Democratic votes to invoke cloture and take up the bill for vote.
