Update 3/13/2025, 7:10 p.m. ET: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Thursday evening his intent to advance the House version of the continuing resolution and prevent a government shutdown.

Washington’s weariest rerun is broadcasting again this week, as Congress has until Friday to pass a spending measure that will avert a partial government shutdown. But this time around, the same ol’ show has tacked on a Trumpian twist. With a nearly-united Republican trifecta, Senate Democrats have found themselves in the unusual — and uncomfortable — position of choosing between a bill they don’t like and shutting down the government.

The scene was set on Tuesday, when “Magic Mike” — that’s House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to you — pulled a rabbit out of his hat in the form of a continuing resolution (CR) so sweet that even the critical of fiscal hawks had to take a lick.

(The lone Republican holdout was Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), whose unwavering “no” vote “drew the ire of President Trump, saying he’s going to target him in a primary,” noted Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on “Washington Watch.”)

Indeed, President Trump performed the indispensable role of “magician’s assistant” to Magic Mike’s stagecraft, stage-managing the unseen movements that made the impossible seem possible. (Trump never likes playing second-fiddle to anyone, but here he sees Johnson’s act as a warm-up to his own anchor routine.)

The House CR lasts through September 2025, giving Congress through the end of the fiscal year to complete the normal budgeting process — the first chance for a Republican trifecta since a Democratic trifecta went on a spending spree in 2021-2022. The magic that enticed fiscal hawks to approve the CR was the hope that the Trump administration would not spend all the money allocated, slicing out waste, fraud, and abuse using a little-known provision called rescission.

After passing the CR, the House adjourned, and most Republican members left the Washington area, with no plans to return until March 24. (House Democrats are holding an annual retreat in Leesburg, Va., an hour away from Washington.) This makes it impossible for the House to reconvene in Washington and pass an amended CR on short notice.

With the House offline, Act III of this drama must play out in the Senate, for better or worse. To proceed to a vote on the House CR, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) must find the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said he will not support the CR, which means Senate Republicans need eight Democrats to cross the aisle. So far, only Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) has said he will support the measure to keep the government open.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rallied his caucus to oppose the bill at a Wednesday lunch. “Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort,” said Schumer, “but Republicans chose a partisan path, drafting their continuing resolution without any input — any input — from congressional Democrats. Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”

It’s easy to endorse bipartisanship and moderation when in the minority, but Schumer never showed particular interest in addressing Republican concerns when his own party held united control of government.

Besides this, Schumer’s alternative proposal does little to bolster his own position. “Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR that will keep the government open and give Congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation that can pass,” he suggested.

This “solution” would put Congress in the same pickle in another four weeks, chewing up time to prevent Congress from enacting the rest of President Trump’s agenda. On second thought, it makes perfect sense why Schumer has proposed this solution.

Regardless of what Schumer wants, or of what concessions he might extract if given more time, there simply isn’t time for Congress to arrive at a different solution before the deadline. Already, reports NBC News, “the Senate can’t vote on any bill by the Friday midnight deadline unless all 100 senators agree to skip the hurdles.”

This means they can forget about taking any action that would force the bill to return to the House. “The problem is, if it passes here, then the House is gone and we get a shutdown on Friday,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). “In the end,” added Thune, “the vehicle that’s available to us — and the House is long gone — that funds the government is the CR that came over from the House.”

But, according to Democrats, the House bill simply won’t pass in the Senate. “There are not the votes right now to pass it,” Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told reporters. “Democrats had nothing to do with this bill. And we want an opportunity to get an amendment vote or two. And so, that’s what we are insisting on.”

But what Senate Democrats hate most about the bill is the very provision that persuaded House Republicans to line up behind it — the prospect for President Trump to propose further cuts to Congress. “The problem I have with the bill is that I think it advances this project that we’re seeing come from the executive branch, this power grab that does not respect that the power of the purse is with the Congress,” said Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga). It’s not really a power grab if Congress delegates the authority, then has to confirm any rescissions, but the message is received.

So, like Vizzini and the Dread Pirate Roberts, House Republicans and Senate Democrats are at an impasse. But the federal government funding deadline looms ever nearer at a rate of one second per second, and someone will have to budge. “At this point, there’s really one solution on the table,” Thune said of the House CR.

Senator Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) suggested Republicans would take the blame for this shutdown, as they did for shutdowns in the past. “Republicans are in charge of the Senate, in charge of the House, and have the White House. The American people know who’s in charge,” he said. “It’s ridiculous for Republicans to try to blame the party that’s the minority everywhere.”

But this argument overlooks a fact that will be evident to the American public — that Republicans voted for a measure to fund the government, while Senate Democrats voted to block it — if, in the end, that’s what they decide to do.

“At least for now, I don’t see the votes,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Wednesday. “Based on my reading of the end of the meeting, I don’t see the votes there right now for passing the House Republican” bill. The key words here are, “at least for now.” Pressure will ramp up as the deadline approaches, as Democrats face the prospect of getting blamed for a government shutdown, and as they realize that they’re fresh out of magic tricks.

“I certainly hope that there are enough Democrats in the Senate who have a conscience, who will do the right thing by the American people and take care of business,” said Speaker “Magic Mike” Johnson.