Senate passes GOP measure to avert shutdown as Democrats fume over choice

Washington — The Senate passed a Republican-led stopgap measure to keep the government funded ahead of a midnight deadline Friday, following days of consternation from Senate Democrats over an uncomfortable choice — to allow the GOP bill to pass or let the government shut down.

The Senate passed the bill in a 54 to 46 vote, with one Republican opposing it and two Democrats supporting it after 10 Democrats provided the votes earlier Friday to advance the measure through a key procedural hurdle. The funding bill now heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature. 

The vote came after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer initially signaled that his caucus would fight back against the partisan measure to keep the government funded through September. But instead he reluctantly pledged on Thursday to advance it, delivering one of the Democratic votes necessary to propel it to passage. He warned of the larger threat a shutdown would pose for the American people.

“For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option,” the New York Democrat said, calling the bill “deeply partisan” and urging that “it doesn’t address far too many of this country’s needs.” “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”

After his remarks Thursday night, Schumer wouldn’t say whether other Democrats would join him in voting to advance the measure, telling reporters that “each is making his or her own decision.” But Schumer’s support for the continuing resolution gave other Democrats political cover to do the same, diminishing the threat of a shutdown. 

Ultimately, Schumer was joined in voting to advance the measure by Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Gary Peters of Michigan, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose advancing the measure and he voted against it on final passage. Shaheen and King voted in favor of final passage.

On Tuesday, the House passed the measure, which increases defense spending while decreasing non-defense spending below 2024 levels. Republicans have praised additional funding in the measure for programs like nutrition assistance for women, infants and children, while Democrats have railed against cuts to medical research and housing programs — and more than $1 billion in cuts to D.C.’s local government spending. The Senate also voted to reverse the cuts following the vote to keep the government funded, but the measure still must be taken up by the House. 

Just one House Democrat joined the Republican majority in support of the measure. And while the House requires only a simple majority, a 60-vote threshold is required to invoke cloture and advance most measures in the Senate, meaning the support of Democrats was needed to get the measure to ultimately pass.

Still, the party had been split on how to proceed. Democrats widely oppose the House-passed measure and have expressed frustration with the spending reductions, and they warn that it would give the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency even more latitude to carry out cost-slashing efforts.

Democrats had been pushing for a 30-day continuing resolution that had little chance of earning enough support for passage. And with the House having already left town, the option would almost certainly have resulted in a funding lapse. But some progressives suggested that the shorter option was more favorable, letting the onus for a government shutdown fall on Republicans, arguing that it would have further illuminated the chaos that has ensued in the federal bureaucracy and beyond under the Trump administration and DOGE.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told reporters Thursday night that Schumer’s move to back the continuing resolution — known as a CR — was a “huge slap in the face,” adding that there is a “wide sense of betrayal” among the party.

“What voting for the CR does is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The robbing of our federal government in order to finance tax cuts for billionaires, is what is happening, and that is what Senate Democrats will be empowering if they vote for the CR.”

Schumer told reporters following his floor remarks that Democrats should keep the attention on their message — that Republicans are hurting the middle class — rather than on what the Trump administration could pursue during a shutdown. Schumer said the message is “beginning to work.”

The president congratulated Schumer Friday morning for “doing the right thing,” saying in a post on Truth Social that it took “courage.”

The minority leader first informed Senate Democrats that he planned to vote to advance the GOP funding measure during a closed-door meeting Thursday afternoon, a source familiar told CBS News. As the meeting let out, frustrations appeared high among Senate Democrats, and a number of them — including many who hail from battleground states — quickly released statements on social media announcing they would vote “no” on the House-passed continuing resolution.

Besides Schumer, only Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, had pledged to support the continuing resolution heading into the day on Friday. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada became the third Democrat to pledge to support the measure to avert a shutdown ahead of the vote.  

Democrats continued to rail against their options on Friday morning. Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democratic appropriator who had been engaged in bipartisan talks to fund the government, said the choice between a shutdown and letting the GOP bill pass “has always been a false choice.” She accused Republicans of pulling out of bipartisan negotiations and sending “a deeply partisan bill here to the Senate today.”

“Democrats did not have an ounce of input into writing this bill,” Murray said. “In my time in Congress, never, ever has one party written partisan full-year appropriations bills for all of government and expected the other party to go along without any input.”

Murray said the Senate could still pass the short-term funding measure that she introduced earlier this week, saying House Republicans could get on a plane to come back and vote.

Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders returned to the Capitol Friday to express their opposition to the continuing resolution, calling this an “unprecedented situation and an unprecedented disaster” for the American people.

“We’ve been very clear: we strongly oppose the reckless Republican spending bill,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said.

contributed to this report.

About The Author

Stephen Collopy

See author's posts