Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) took to the Senate floor Wednesday to warn that his Democratic colleagues may orchestrate a government shutdown shortly before the November midterms, aiming to disrupt Washington and shift blame to Republicans.
“I think my Democratic friends are going to shut down the government right before the midterms,” Kennedy said, adding that he hoped to be proven wrong. “If I am—please make me wrong—I will come to this floor and apologize,” he told his colleagues during a speech preceding a marathon budget vote session.
Kennedy’s remarks come as federal funding is set to expire at the end of September, just weeks before Election Day. He is among a growing number of Senate Republicans who view a shutdown as increasingly likely, citing what they see as a pattern of Democratic brinkmanship.
During his floor speech, Kennedy expressed interest in offering an amendment to the budget resolution that would instruct the Homeland Security Committee to incorporate two key pieces of legislation into the upcoming reconciliation package: the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, introduced by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), which would automatically implement two-week stopgap funding measures if Congress fails to pass annual appropriations, and the Shutdown Fairness Act, from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), which would ensure essential federal workers continue to be paid during a lapse. Kennedy said he wants to “marry those bills so we’ll be ready in case anybody tries to do a shutdown on us.”
The Louisiana senator pointed to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s (N.Y.) vote last March in favor of a House-passed funding bill to avert a shutdown, which sparked backlash from the party’s progressive base. “Schumer did the right thing for the country last March and helped us get out of a shutdown. You saw what happened. Schumer’s not Bambi’s baby brother. He did that once, he touched the stove, got burned. He was never going to do it again,” Kennedy told reporters earlier this week.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) echoed Kennedy’s concerns, predicting Tuesday that Schumer would again shut down the government on Sept. 30. “On Sept. 30, funding for the federal government will end. Chuck Schumer is not a creative guy, he’s not hard to predict. Last year, right before the election, what did Schumer do? He shut the whole government down,” Cruz said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He argued that Democrats believe the 2023 shutdown helped them politically in off-year elections in New Jersey and Virginia. “I will wager, right now, $100, that Schumer intends—on Oct. 1—to do the same thing, to shut the whole federal government down for a month, so that on Election Day … the government is shut down, you have four-hour lines again in airports, and the Democrats can say, ‘See, the Republicans are in charge, they don’t know what they’re doing,’” Cruz predicted.
The GOP warnings come amid broader political tensions, with recent polling showing economic concerns weighing heavily on voters. A Gallup survey found that nearly half of Americans rate the economy as poor, a factor that could shape midterm outcomes. Meanwhile, Republicans are also grappling with internal divisions, as seen in a recent House Oversight hearing where Democrats accused the GOP of stalling an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein by canceling formal hearings.
Kennedy’s own record on health policy has drawn scrutiny; during a Senate Health Committee hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) challenged Kennedy’s claims about vaccine mortality, and later confronted him on measles preparedness and abortion pill rules. Kennedy has also denied any White House pressure on his vaccine rhetoric amid a strategic shift in messaging.
As the September funding deadline approaches, the prospect of a shutdown remains a potent political weapon, with both parties positioning to blame the other for any disruption. Kennedy’s proposal to preemptively shield essential workers and maintain government operations underscores the GOP’s effort to neutralize what they see as a Democratic tactic.
