Sen. Fetterman says he’ll back a GOP spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Will other Democrats follow?

The heat is on for Senate Democrats this week as they weigh whether to support a Republican-led government spending bill that they oppose or to risk being blamed for shutting down the federal government.

And front and center is Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), who has vowed to support the bill to avoid a shutdown, in a moment reflective of the larger question confronting the Democratic Party: When to fight and when to fall in line?

The Senate has three days to pass the stopgap bill, which funds the government for the next seven months. It cleared the House on Tuesday.

» READ MORE: Another government shutdown looms — what’s different about it this time around?

No Pennsylvania Democrats voted for the House bill and all of the state’s Republicans voted in its favor, including U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Bucks County, who had said he was on the fence ahead of the vote.

Given Republicans’ 53-47 Senate majority, GOP lawmakers would need eight Democrats to join them to advance the bill to a final vote. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Wednesday afternoon that Democrats would refuse to back the bill and instead push for another extension to allow time to consider individual spending bills.

But any changes to the bill passed in the House or an extension would require House members — who adjourned for the week — to return and approve those changes, which is unlikely. That puts both parties in a standoff with the deadline looming.

Fetterman, the only Democrat in the chamber to unequivocally pledge to back the spending bill, has urged members of his party to do the same. Last week, he joined some fellow Democrats in criticizing displays of displeasure with President Donald Trump during his joint address to Congress.

“The weeks of performative ‘resistance’ from those in my party were limited to undignified antics,” he posted on his social media accounts, including Trump’s platform, Truth Social. “Voting to shut the government down will punish millions or risk a recession. I disagree with many points in the [continuing resolution], but I will never vote to shut our government down.”

For Fetterman, the move is in line with how he has reacted to Republican control of the White House and Congress over the last few months, urging his party to have a more measured approach to a deluge of policy changes, picking rare moments to speak out against the Trump administration while finding opportunities to support Trump’s agenda.

But whether other Senate Democrats follow Fetterman’s lead remains to be seen. Many are grappling with determining the lesser of two evils for a party struggling to reboot after November losses nationwide.

On one hand, Democrats do not want to further empower Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, and the vote is a rare moment when they have leverage to reject a bill and force the GOP to work with them. On the other hand, they do not want to be blamed for a shutdown in a moment when the Democratic Party brand is struggling to connect with voters.

“Democrats haven’t positioned themselves politically to win this fight,” said Democratic political consultant Sean Coit. “This isn’t The West Wing, it’s real life, and if there’s a shutdown, Democrats will end up muddling the clear message the American people are hearing every day right now, which is that Trump and Republicans are causing the chaos.”

Some Democrats are also concerned that a shutdown dilutes their own argument against federal funding cuts and government layoffs and could just ramp up Musk’s sweeping plans to reduce the federal workforce.

Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) is among the senators who have ruled out supporting the bill.

“I do not want to shut down our government, I want to improve it, streamline it and ensure it delivers services our communities need,” he said in a statement Wednesday morning.

A vote could come anytime between Wednesday and late Friday. The deadline to avoid a shutdown is Friday at midnight, when government funding for the year runs out.

Other local Democrats, including New Jersey Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker and Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, have not publicly telegraphed how they plan to vote and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on their thinking.

The last government shutdown lasted 35 days, from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, and was the longest in four decades. But they have become a recurring threat in recent years.

Shutdowns are deeply unpopular but have historically largely been associated with the Republican Party.

“Democrats are kind of in the wilderness right now,” said Chris Borick, a pollster at Muhlenberg College. “I think they’re desperately looking for a place where they have some leverage, and on the surface it may seem this is a situation that provides that, but I don’t think it’s the battle that they are best suited to engage in.”

Fetterman has long characterized his style of legislating as pragmatic, but in a moment when Trump has taken a slash-and-burn tactic to reshaping government, some of his fellow Democrats have called for more pushback and unified outrage.

“Nobody wants a government shutdown, but politically, I’ve never seen a political party pay a price on Election Day for shutting down the government,” Democratic strategist Mike Mikus said, noting that the GOP was largely responsible for a 2019 shutdown and it did not become a major campaign theme.

“This is one instance where the minority party has the opportunity to speak, and they should speak loudly,” Mikus said. He thinks part of the Democratic Party’s drop in popularity stems from a base upset it has not fought back, not one looking for compromise. “You can get it back by standing up to Donald Trump.”

Mikus, who ran a Senate campaign against Fetterman in 2016, criticized Fetterman’s move toward the middle, saying he has “spent the last few months blowing up his brand.”

“He’s going to find himself on a political island, and his actions are recruiting a primary opponent,” Mikus said. “He will not be our senator in 2029, I guarantee it.”

Fetterman ultimately voted for 10 of Trump’s cabinet nominees, tying for the most of any Democrat along with New Hampshire Sens. Margaret Wood Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, and Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego.

» READ MORE: How local lawmakers are voting on Trump’s cabinet picks

Hickenlooper told CNN on the hill on Wednesday that he was leaning toward advancing the budget plan, though he had not made a final decision.

“If you shut down the government, the president is the person who decides what is essential,” Hickenlooper said. “He decides what part of the government stays open, so you are actually giving him even more power.”