The Senate advanced its solution to avert a government shutdown on Saturday, capping off several months of hand-wringing that, if given the chance, Senate Democrats would use a shutdown to score political points in November.Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus relented, and stayed true to the bargain they struck with Republicans to keep the government funded well past Election Night and into early December.The about-face, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told Fox News Digital, appeared to be a political calculation on Schumer and Democrats’ part.SCHUMER CLAIMS VICTORY AS SENATE MOVES TO AVERT SHUTDOWN; GOP SAYS HE GOT PLAYEDSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, during a news conference following the weekly Senate Democrat policy luncheon at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, March 17, 2026.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)"I think they didn't want to spend the next, well … three months defending attacks from Republicans about wanting to shut the government down," Thune said."I mean, I think there was a narrative starting to build out there based on what's happened the last 12 months, which I think, they probably — you know, these guys are political animals," Thune continued.
"I'm assuming those guys are polling all the time."DEMOCRATS BLINK AS SCHUMER HELPS GOP CLEAR KEY SHUTDOWN HURDLEAnd Schumer claimed victory over the process, arguing that Democrats "for months" wanted to keep the government open, and had scored key concessions from the Trump administration on an ensuing rule change to federal grants in the bipartisan continuing resolution (CR)."We want to reach across the aisle and hammer out a budget that delivers for the American people," Schumer said on the Senate floor."Today, [this] CR gives us the breathing room necessary to work out a budget that helps make life more affordable to working families and reigns in Trump's rampant chaos, his rampant corruption."However...