Senate Democrats weigh GOP stopgap bill as government shutdown looms

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• Amna Nawaz:

  There are signs of hope from the U.S. Senate tonight on a potential way to avoid a federal government shutdown tomorrow night; 60 votes are needed to move anything forward, and it's still unclear if enough Democrats will join Republicans to pass a stopgap deal and what they may get in return.

  Our Lisa Desjardins is tracking the latest on Capitol Hill and she joins me now.

  So, Lisa, just let's talk with us, this potential government shutdown. What is the latest? Where do things stand?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  We have had another long, strange couple of days here on Capitol Hill, but I can report now from sources familiar that there is potentially a break in the impasse right now.

  They need about eight Senate Democratic votes. This morning, it didn't look like those votes were there, but now I can report that the Senate Democratic leader himself, Chuck Schumer, has told Democrats that he plans to vote yes on that critical 60-margin vote.

  Now, with that, we expect other Democrats to come on board. This, of course, is the House measure that was passed, would fund government all the way until September 30. Democrats, by and large, do not like it because it would continue to allow Donald Trump and Elon Musk to cut government as they like.

  There's no guardrails in here, as Democrats would want. But, of course, Democrats don't control either chamber. This is a real test for Chuck Schumer. It's been unclear as Democrats were divided what to do how he would approach this. But now it looks like he's trying to split the atom here, with most Democrats voting against this, he himself leading a few that could allow the government to stay open.

  The only Democrat officially voting yes right now is John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. He is someone who has said openly the idea of Democrats pushing for a shutdown or allowing a shutdown is something that he thinks is beyond Democratic strategy and is something that would really hurt the country. So he is a yes.

  And now we are reporting tonight that Senator Schumer will be a yes as well, likely opening up enough votes to get a spending bill through tomorrow.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Lisa, tell us more about what Senator Fetterman said there, because so many Democrats have strongly opposed government shutdowns in the past. Why are many of them digging in on this now?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  When you talk to these senators, there's one reason. They say they are being overwhelmed by calls and pressure from their constituents.

  That is not just federal workers, but some Trump voters as well. In fact, I talked to a Trump voter who said, yes, they're having such a huge problem with what Musk is doing and what Trump is doing that they want Democrats to take a stand.

  Also, House Democrats were nearly unanimous in opposing this bill. It was easier for them because that wasn't going to risk a shutdown. Still, Senate Democrats have been under pressure to figure out their message responding to Trump. They wanted to take a stand here. Most of them will. So this is about what's happening with Trump, Musk, but also internally some Democratic divide over how to deal with it.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Lisa, also today, we know the Senate called off a hearing for a high-profile Trump nominee. That was his pick to run the CDC, or the Centers for Disease Control.

  We have now learned that the White House has pulled that nomination. What should we understand about that?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  This is a critical health position in the U.S. government. The White House did confirm to me and others that David Weldon has been pulled as the nomination to run the CDC. Now, Weldon is an Army veteran. He served in Congress in the late 1990s, early 2000s.

  He is himself a doctor of internal medicine, but he is known here in the controversies around his push for research on autism, and particularly when he was in Congress rejecting studies that debunked the idea that autism could be caused by vaccines. We know now there is a lot of academics that show there is no link there. He is someone who has raised doubts about that very openly in a controversial way.

  Now, Weldon's sent out a statement saying that he was caught by surprise today. He pointed a finger of blame at two senators in particular Republicans, the chairman of the Health Committee, Cassidy, and also Senator Susan Collins of Maine. He said they're the ones that sort of kind of blindsided him.

  I spoke to both of those senators, Amna. They said, no, not true, they wanted his hearing to go forward, that they still had not made up their minds, while they may have had reservations. So there is an interesting disconnect here, but one bottom line is the White House seemed to make this decision themselves that they didn't want this nominee in the job.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That's Lisa Desjardins on Capitol Hill with the very latest for us tonight.

  Lisa, thank you.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  You're welcome.

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