House Democrats Criticise Schumer as US Senate Passes Bill to Avert Shutdown

Top Senate Democrat Breaks Logjam, Allowing Republican Bill to Advance

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WASHINGTON - The US Senate on March 14 passed a stopgap spending Bill, averting a partial government shutdown, after Democrats backed down in a stand-off driven by anger over President Donald Trump's campaign to slash the federal workforce.

After days of heated debate, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer broke the logjam on the night of March 13, saying he would vote to allow the Bill to advance. Mr Schumer said he did not like the Bill but believed that triggering a shutdown would be a worse outcome, as Mr Trump and his adviser Elon Musk were moving swiftly to slash spending.

The Senate voted 54-46 to pass the Bill and send it to Mr Trump for signing into law, after fending off four amendments.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives earlier in the week passed the measure, which largely leaves spending steady at about US$6.75 trillion (S$9 trillion) in the fiscal year that ends on Sept 30.

Democrats had expressed anger over the Bill, which will cut spending by about US$7 billion and which they said does nothing to stop Mr Trump's campaign to halt congressionally mandated spending and slash tens of thousands of jobs.

The moves come as Mr Trump is locked in a trade war with some of America's closest allies that has sparked a major sell-off in stocks and raised recession worries.