In a rare breaking of Hawaii ranks, the state’s two U.S. senators diverged Friday on their positions regarding a short-term spending bill necessary to avoid a government shutdown. 

What You Need To Know

  • Senate Democrats seemed poised to filibuster the measure past Friday’s deadline as a show of resistance to the Trump administration’s recent actions to gut key federal departments
  • Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer made it clear he considered passage the Republican-driven bill the lesser of two evils
  • Sen. Brian Schatz was among 10 Democratic senators to vote in favor of moving the bill forward for a vote
  • Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, opted for a different tact, standing firm in her opposition to the bill and her commitment to resisting the administration at every turn

 

Senate Democrats seemed poised to filibuster the measure past Friday’s deadline as a show of resistance to the Trump administration’s recent actions to gut key federal departments. As the deadline approached, however, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer made it clear he considered passage the Republican-driven bill the lesser of two evils.

Schumer explained that a government shutdown would provide the Department of Government Efficiency to move even more aggressively to incapacitate and dismantle government services.

Sen. Brian Schatz was among 10 Democratic senators to vote in favor of moving the bill forward for a vote. The measure ultimately passed 54-46, with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Angus King, I-Maine; joining Republicans in voting aye. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the only Republican to vote against the bill.

“My job is to protect people in Hawaii,” Schatz said in a statement released after the cloture vote. “Today’s vote on the continuing resolution was a difficult and close call, but ultimately, I made the determination that a flawed bill was better than no bill at all. A shutdown would enable Donald Trump and Elon Musk to unilaterally determine that the vast majority of federal workers are not essential. And given the number of federal workers in Hawaii, mass furloughs would be deeply painful for people across the state.”

Schatz said he understood people’s frustration with the situation but said that ultimately “a shutdown would be more devastating for everyone.”

“We’re in a fight for democracy itself,” he said. “We can’t let disagreements about strategy and tactics divide us. We need to focus our energy on the real villain here: Donald Trump.”

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, opted for a different tactic, standing firm in her opposition to the bill and her commitment to resisting the administration at every turn. In explaining her no votes, the senator focused her ire on Trump rather than her fellow Democrats.

“By forcing a choice between a deeply partisan CR that removes critical guardrails and a shutdown that would enable Trump and Musk to sow yet more chaos, Republicans have made clear that they are more concerned with pleasing Donald Trump than protecting the American people,” she said. “It didn’t have to be this way — Republicans and Democrats were close to a bipartisan agreement that would have kept government open with full appropriations bills. Republicans chose to walk away from those negotiations at the 11th hour. I cannot support this (continuing resolution).”

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.