California Sens. Alex Padilla, Adam Schiff are 'no' votes on budget as government shutdown looms

David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Mar 12, 2025

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WASHINGTON — California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff will vote “no” on the House-passed plan to keep the government running through Sept. 30.

The Senate is now considering the budget, and if it doesn’t pass by Friday night much of the federal government will shut down. The House narrowly passed the budget Wednesday, with all 43 California Democrats opposed and all nine Republicans for it.

Republicans control 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats. But it takes 60 votes to limit debate. Since Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has said he’s against the plan, it will take eight Democrats to get the proposal passed.

Padilla and Schiff won’t be among them.

“The House Republican spending bill is a non-starter — it completely shortchanges California on disaster relief in the wake of the devastating L.A. County fires,” Padilla said Wednesday. “I’m voting no.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has requested $39.68 billion in disaster aid from Washington to help victims of the Southern California wildfires. At least 29 people were killed and more than 16,000 properties destroyed in the blazes.

The budget bill contains no new money for the aid. It’s anticipated that the money will come later this year in another budget measure.

Padilla and Schiff were also concerned about the bill’s impact on White House budget cuts.

Schiff said Wednesday that the bill would “further cement the Trump administration’s chaos and reckless actions that are hurting working families and our economy.”

The bill, he said, would allow President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk to continue trying to lay off federal workers and close agencies.

“By choosing to send such a fatally flawed bill to the Senate, Trump and Republicans seem intent on shutting down the government unless they can double down on their damaging cuts,” Schiff said.

He, Padilla and other Democrats prefer a 30-day budget plan that would give lawmakers more time to negotiate a compromise bill. Republicans counter that there’s been plenty of time to craft a budget bill.

They also argue – as do several Senate Democrats – that a shutdown could be disastrous politically and logistically.

“Our focus must be on preventing an unnecessary and costly government shutdown on Friday, March 14th, at midnight. Government shutdowns are inherently a failure to govern effectively and have negative consequences all across government,” said Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine.

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