Senate Republicans do not have enough votes for cloture, a legislative procedure to end debate and move for a vote. Republicans only have a 53-47 seat majority, and 60 votes are needed to invoke cloture. If Democrats don’t provide enough votes for cloture, the government is almost certainly headed toward a shutdown Friday.

Despite promising a fight, Senate Democrats are reportedly considering a vote swap. In exchange for providing enough votes to end debate on the GOP spending bill, Senate Republicans would allow a Democratic amendment to continue to fund the government at current levels for the next month to come to the floor, known as a continuing resolution, or CR. The Democratic amendment is almost certain to fail.

Democrats opposed to the GOP bill would then be allowed to vote “no” on the broader spending bill, allowing them to seem like they’re voting against the GOP measure despite providing the needed support to bring it to the floor. Democrats have criticized the GOP plan, which would give Musk and Trump more power to slash the federal government and also cut $1 billion from Washington, D.C.’s local budget.

Nina Smith, a Democratic strategist, said this kind of wheeling and dealing is exactly why Americans have lost faith in the party.