With just hours left before the midnight deadline on Friday, the Senate narrowly avoided a government shutdown by passing a Republican-led stopgap funding measure. This decision, however, came after days of internal strife among Senate Democrats, who faced an uncomfortable dilemma: allow the GOP bill to pass or risk a full-scale government shutdown. The measure was approved in a 54 to 46 vote, with one Republican opposing it and two Democrats crossing party lines to support it after 10 Democratic senators had already helped advance it earlier in the day.
The bill now sits on President Trump's desk, awaiting his signature. While the passage of the measure prevents an immediate crisis, the path leading up to this moment was anything but smooth. Initially, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood firm against the partisan bill, emphasizing its deep flaws and the negative impact it would have on the American people. However, by Thursday, Schumer made the difficult decision to advance it, citing the greater threat of a shutdown.
“For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option,” Schumer stated, calling the measure “deeply partisan” and lamenting that it fails to address many of the country’s most pressing needs. “But I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.” His reluctant support for the bill signaled to other Democrats that, despite its shortcomings, keeping the government open had to take precedence.
Schumer wasn’t alone in making this tough call. Democratic senators such as Catherine Cortez Masto, Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Kirsten Gillibrand, and several others also voted to advance the measure. Notably, independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats, backed the bill as well. On the other side, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky stood as the lone Republican to vote against the measure in its final passage.
Earlier in the week, the House passed the funding measure, which bolsters defense spending while slashing non-defense programs below 2024 levels. The bill allocates additional resources for nutrition assistance programs serving women, infants, and children, a point Republicans championed. However, Democrats harshly criticized the cuts to medical research, housing programs, and the more than $1 billion reduction in funding for Washington, D.C.'s local government. Following the Senate’s approval, lawmakers also voted to reverse these cuts, but that reversal still requires House approval.
The decision to advance the measure sparked division among Democrats, who were already split on the best course of action. Many were frustrated by the spending reductions and warned that it would grant the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) greater authority to implement cost-cutting measures. Progressives had been advocating for a short-term 30-day resolution, which was unlikely to pass but would have shifted the shutdown blame onto Republicans, highlighting the broader chaos under the Trump administration and DOGE.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t hold back her criticism. Calling Schumer’s decision a “huge slap in the face,” she expressed the sense of betrayal felt by progressives. “What voting for the CR does is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing,” she 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.”
Despite the heated rhetoric, Schumer urged his colleagues to focus on a central message: Republicans are the ones harming the middle class. “That message is beginning to work,” he told reporters. President Trump, on the other hand, praised Schumer’s decision, congratulating him on Truth Social for “doing the right thing” and displaying “courage.”
Tensions within the Democratic caucus were evident on Thursday afternoon when Schumer informed them during a closed-door meeting that he intended to vote in favor of advancing the funding bill. The reaction was immediate. Several senators, particularly those from battleground states, quickly took to social media to declare their opposition. Until Friday morning, only Schumer and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania had publicly committed to supporting the bill. Later, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada became the third Democrat to pledge her vote to prevent a shutdown.
As the final vote neared, frustration among Senate Democrats remained high. Sen. Patty Murray, a key Democratic appropriator who had been involved in bipartisan funding talks, criticized the entire process, calling the choice between passing the GOP bill or shutting down the government “a false choice.” She accused Republicans of abandoning bipartisan negotiations and presenting a highly partisan bill to the Senate. “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 insisted that an alternative still existed. She had introduced a short-term funding measure earlier in the week, which she argued would have been the better solution. She urged House Republicans to return to Washington and vote on it, though the likelihood of that happening was slim. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders in the House reconvened on Friday to reinforce their opposition, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries branding the GOP bill an “unprecedented disaster” for the American people.
In the end, despite widespread dissatisfaction, the reality of a government shutdown proved too great a risk for enough Senate Democrats to oppose the measure outright. The funding bill now awaits President Trump’s signature, preventing an immediate crisis—but leaving the door open for future battles over government spending and fiscal priorities.
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