WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party was fracturing Friday as a torrent of frustration and anger was unleashed at Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who faced what they saw as an awful choice: shut the government down or consent to a Republican funding bill that allows President Donald Trump to continue slashing the federal government.

After Schumer announced Thursday that he would reluctantly support the bill, he bore the brunt of that anger, including a protest at his office, calls from progressives that he be primaried in 2028 and suggestions that the Democratic Party would soon be looking for new leaders.

In a rare move, the House Democratic leadership, which essentially held the line against the bill in their chamber, issued a scathing rejoinder, warning against caving to Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and the Republican agenda marching forward in Congress.

“House Democrats will not be complicit,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar wrote in a joint statement from the party’s annual issues conference retreat, where frustrations were boiling over.

“We remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate.”

Since their election losses, Democrats have been hunkered against a barrage of Trump’s early actions in office, locked out of legislative power and left searching for a plan to regain political momentum. But as Schumer prepared to let pass one of the rare moments when the party might regain leverage in Washington, the Democratic Party erupted in a moment of anger that had been building for months.

Many in the party felt that the New York Democrat was not showing sufficient fight, arguing that a government shutdown would force Trump and Republicans to the negotiating table. Yet for Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since Trump took office in 2016, the choice came down to preventing a shutdown that he believed would only hand Trump more power and leave his party with the blame for disruptions to government services.

“A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer warned on the Senate floor Friday, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency effort led by Musk.

Still, as the Senate headed for a vote on the government funding bill, hardly any Democrats were speaking up in support of Schumer’s strategy. It was a remarkable turn for the longtime Democratic leader, leaving him standing practically alone.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, his longtime partner in funding fights of the past, said in a statement: “Let’s be clear: neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable.”

Pelosi added that the senators should listen to the women who lead appropriations for Democrats, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. They had proposed a 30-day stopgap plan instead of the Republican proposal that would provide funding until September. The Republican bill would trim $13 billion in non-defense spending from the levels in the 2024 budget year and increase defense spending by $6 billion.

Other Democrats, such as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 and visited the Democratic retreat in Northern Virginia, called for a broader movement. He mentioned the recent 60th anniversary of peaceful civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama, and argued that Democrats need to find “collective courage.”

“When those individuals marched, there wasn’t one voice,” Beshear said. “There was a collective courage of that group that changed the world. That day opened up the eyes of the country to what was really going on.”

Some were ready to start marching.

“We’re ready to get out of this building and head back to the Capitol at any moment and prevent the government from shutting down,” said Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“But now is the moment for Democrats to draw a line in the sand and say that we stand very firmly on the side of working class people and against the ultra-rich that are trying to corrupt our government for themselves.”

In a social media post, Anne Caprara, the chief of staff for Illinois Gov. JB Prtizker, argued that the party could unify around a fight with Trump.

“The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between hard left, left and moderate. It’s between those who want to fight and those who want to cave,” Caprara said. “Misread this at your own peril.”

Even in the Senate, Democrats were mostly unwilling to speak up to defend Schumer’s move. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock even suggested that the party should be looking for new leaders in the coming years.

“I think come ’26, ’28, we’ll get some new leadership,” he said. His office later said Warnock was answering the question broadly.

Mostly, though, senators just lamented that they had been jammed by a Republican Party that has found a new sense of unity under Trump. For years, House Republicans have not been able to muster votes for government funding on their own, forcing them into bipartisan negotiations. This time, they passed the bill on party lines and left Washington.

“We’re stuck with two bad choices presented by a unified Republican front,” Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said.