An influential group of Senate Democrats are warning they won’t accept any government funding deal that fails to ban spending on military hostilities in Iran, potentially risking a government shutdown in December.
Sens. Michael Bennett from Colorado, Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, Chris Van Hollen from Maryland, and Vermont-based Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, made the announcement Thursday.
“As we approach the December 11 funding deadline, we should not accept a short-term spending deal that continues to provide billions of additional dollars for President [Donald] Trump’s war of choice,” the group said in a statement. “Any short-term package must include language that restricts the Trump Administration from using appropriated funds to continue his war against Iran.”
With fiscal year 2027 well underway, Congress still hasn’t passed a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills that collectively fund all federal agencies. In September, lawmakers had punted the government shutdown deadline to Dec. 11 by passing a continuing resolution, a temporary measure which effectively froze current funding levels.
Now, with Democrats invigorated by sweeping midterm election wins and the Trump administration continuing its controversial attacks on Iran, yet another government shutdown appears possible in less than a month.
“Congress cannot allow Trump to continue his conflict – we must force him to end it,” the senators’ statement continued. “When we vote on appropriations, we intend to fund the government and stop funds for this war. It is what the American people demand, and what they deserve.”
Only Congress has the power to declare war, but Congress still hasn’t authorized the ongoing U.S. military actions against Iran.
The War Powers Act of 1973 gives the president only 60 days to conduct military operations without congressional approval. When that deadline passed, the Trump administration skirted the requirement by temporarily declaring a ceasefire, a move which Hegseth claimed reset the 60-day clock.
By the time the U.S. and Iran signed a 60-day peace framework in mid-June – which Iran promptly violated – Congress had passed a war powers resolution ordering a halt of further military conflict in Iran. The Pentagon, however, ignored the edict, and the conflict continues.
Congressional Democrats have already proven in the 119th Congress that they are willing to block government funding over policy demands.
Senate Democrats triggered the longest government shutdown in history in February, a 76-day shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, over demands that Republicans implement drastic reforms to ICE and Border Patrol.
Democrats only voted to end the shutdown when Republicans stripped immigration enforcement funding from the Homeland Security appropriations bill entirely, though Republicans later infused ICE and Border Patrol with a three-year cash advance via a budget reconciliation bill.
That shutdown occurred only months after Democrats instigated a 42-day full government shutdown in an attempt to force Republicans to renew expiring COVID-19 era healthcare subsidies.