Cracks are starting to form in the Senate Democratic caucus over whether to hold the line against a seven-week clean government funding stopgap passed by the House, according to Democratic sources, who say that a threat by President Trump to lay off thousands of federal workers is changing the Democratic political calculus on a shutdown.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), who faces a potential primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in 2028, has made it clear he won’t vote for the House-passed GOP stopgap, but centrists in his caucus are looking for a way to avoid a catastrophic shutdown.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who plans to retire from the Senate at the end of 2026, has been “putting out feelers” to Republican senators about reaching some sort of deal or mutual understanding to avoid a government shutdown next week, according to a source familiar with her conversations with Senate colleagues.

Shaheen told Semafor in an interview Wednesday that she sees “a number of ways” to avoid a government shutdown “that should satisfy both sides” and opened the door to voting for the House-passed stopgap next week when Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) brings it back to the Senate floor.

“I’m not going to draw a line in the sand and say it’s got to be this way or that way,” she said.

Democratic sources familiar with internal caucus discussions say there are a........

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