2020 Democrats split on spending deal

Democratic senators running for president in 2020 or considering mounting a bid were split on the government funding bill that passed the Senate on Thursday to avert another shutdown.

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Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — who largely form the progressive wing of the party’s 2020 hopefuls — voted against the bill, which included $1.375 billion for barriers on the southern border.

“This is ridiculous,” Harris said. “I have opposed every effort to build the wall because the American people should not have to pay for the president’s vanity project. We don’t need it.”

But Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont broke from the liberal pack, voting in favor of the legislation. In a statement, Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he “cannot turn my back on the two million federal employees and private contract workers who would be forced, again, to work without pay.”

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