Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the US Senate, said he would support a Republican stop-gap funding bill, increasing the likelihood that Congress will avoid the risk of a government shutdown.
There was a risk that President Donald Trump and close adviser Elon Musk would use a shutdown — which will take place early on Saturday if a funding measure is not passed — as an executive power grab, Schumer said from the floor of the Senate on Thursday.
Though the “bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse”, he said. “Allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”