Chuck Schumer is already mapping out how to hurt Republicans before the November midterms.
His weapon of choice has nothing to do with policy – and John Kennedy just exposed the whole plan.
What Kennedy said Schumer is planning to do to Trump's defense budget should make every veteran furious.
Schumer Blocked the Defense Budget and Left Troops Without Pay in 2025
During the 43-day shutdown of 2025, Chuck Schumer whipped Democrats to kill a full-year defense appropriations bill that would have paid active-duty service members.
The Senate voted 50-44 – and only three Democrats broke with him.
Military personnel nearly went without a paycheck for the first time in American history.
Trump had to pull $4.5 billion from Pentagon research and development accounts as an emergency backstop just to cover October wages.
Schumer's price for cooperation? Democrats wanted Labor, Health and Human Services, and housing spending bundled with the defense bill – or they'd block the whole thing.
Democrats voted against reopening the government more than a dozen times before the shutdown finally ended on November 12.
That 43-day shutdown – a record – then rolled into two more funding lapses stretching another 76 days into 2026.
Kennedy Warned of a 2026 Government Shutdown Over the $1.15 Trillion NDAA
At a Senate Appropriations John Kennedy laid out the current standoff over fiscal 2027 defense funding.
Trump's total request runs $1.5 trillion – a $350 billion reconciliation add-on to the $1.15 trillion base NDAA the House Armed Services Committee already passed 44-12.
Senate Democrats on that committee tried to slash $150 billion from the top line and strip funding for Trump-class battleships – and lost both votes.
Senate Republicans are negotiating a 20 to 27 percent budget increase; Democrats refuse to engage.
"They know that we can't do that, and we're not going to do that," Kennedy said, calling out Democrat demands to shift Pentagon dollars into entitlement programs.
"If nothing else, it would explode the deficit, and besides that, as they know, we don't have a crisis in welfare like we have a crisis in defense."
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink testified at the same hearing that staying at the 2026 authorization floor of $890 billion would freeze every modernization program underway.
"A lot of the investments we've just been talking about to meet the threats, from unmanned vehicles as well as the increased readiness for weapon systems, as well as ammunition procurement – all that is substantially impacted if we stayed at $890 billion without a reconciliation or other mechanism," Meink said.
Kennedy told Meink to prepare for a shutdown and brace for the political fallout.
Democrats Refuse Trump Defense Budget While China Builds Warships
Then Kennedy said what everyone in Washington was thinking but nobody else would say out loud.
"I also predict, if I'm wrong, I will apologize, that my friend Senator Schumer is going to shut down government tight as Dick's hatband first chance he gets before the midterms."
Kennedy didn't stop there.
"You're going to hear a lot of happy talk from senators about how we need to spend more money on defense," he said, "but I think a lot of my colleagues have no intention of voting for a budget under any circumstances."
Final verdict: "They want the government to be shut down, and I think Senator Schumer is going to accommodate them."
Schumer needs chaos before November – and he's already proven, twice in this administration, he'll use the military to get it.
While Schumer runs the clock, Beijing is commissioning warships at a rate that would embarrass every admiral in the Pentagon.
Kennedy has been around long enough to know the play when he sees it, and he said it in open session with his name attached.
Now Schumer gets to prove him wrong.
Sources:
- Cristina Stassis, "Senator warns of government shutdown over dispute on fiscal 2027 defense budget," Military Times, June 9, 2026.
- Paul Hendrie, "House panel advances $1.15 trillion defense bill after marathon debate," The Hill, June 5, 2026.
- Adam Pack and Caden Olson, "Democrats Block Legislation To Pay Troops During Shutdown," The Daily Caller, October 16, 2025.
- "Democrats block Defense spending bill as shutdown tensions rise," The Hill, October 16, 2025.
- "Government Shutdown Clock," The White House, March 22, 2026.
- Paul Hendrie, "House Armed Services Committee squeezes Pete Hegseth in $1.15T defense bill," The Hill, June 6, 2026.