Once again, the country is on the brink of a government shutdown.

Unless the Republican-controlled Senate passes a spending bill, the government will shut down on Friday at midnight, when last year’s appropriations run out.

The House has already passed a bill to fund the government through September on a nearly complete party-line vote. The bill keeps most spending stable, but it includes boosts to defense spending and cuts to domestic projects, one-time grants, and programs like a federal rural broadband initiative. It also restricts the District of Columbia’s locally funded budget.

It faced critics on both sides of the aisle: Conservative Republicans argued the bill didn’t do enough to cut spending, and disliked the legislative method used to fund the government, while Democrats balked at the cuts. But eventually, all but one House Republican supported the party’s legislation, while all but one House Democrat opposed it.

To pass the bill in the Senate, Republicans stand to need the help of eight Senate Democrats to clear the 60-vote filibuster hurdle. The GOP holds a 53-seat majority, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has already said he will not support the plan. So far, one Senate Democrat has come out in favor: John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who said he refuses “to burn the village down in order to save it.”

The stakes are high for a few reasons. This “continuing resolution” (as it’s called in Congress) is Democrats’ first high-profile chance at a stand-off with Republicans in Donald Trump’s second term — their chance to try to negotiate for some oversight and accountability over the White House, Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” and their cuts across the government. And the Democratic base is furious at its leaders; to help Republicans keep the government open would send yet another message to Democrats that their party isn’t confronting Trump the way they want them to.

But shutdowns are never popular — and the risks........

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