WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a Republican-led government funding bill after a handful of Democrats crossed party lines to skirt a filibuster and avoid a government shutdown just hours before the deadline.
Senators voted 54-46 mostly along party lines to pass the six-month continuing resolution and extend current government funding levels through the end of September, relieving lawmakers from finalizing the 2025 budget nearly halfway into the fiscal calendar.
The vote is a huge win for Republicans and their newfound majority in the Senate, especially for Majority Leader John Thune, who managed to wrangle nearly all of his party members to advance the measure in his first real leadership test.
Sen. Rand Paul was the lone Republican to vote against it. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Angus King crossed party lines to support it.
Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis both supported the resolution, despite having voted against continuing resolutions in the past.
The resolution now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk, where he must sign the bill to avert a government shutdown.
The bill’s passage comes after 10 Democrats joined nearly all Republicans in voting to invoke cloture on the measure, pushing it past the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome the procedural hurdle.
Paul also voted against that procedural hurdle. But that was offset by the Senate Democrats and independents who voted in favor, including: Chuck Schumer, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Angus King, Dick Durbin, Brian Schatz, Gary Peters, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeanne Shaheen, and Maggie Hassan.
The hesitant support from those Senate Democrats opened the door for a final vote that only required a simple majority to pass the legislation.
In an agreement made on Friday afternoon, Senate leaders allowed votes on four amendments before teeing up for a final vote immediately after. None of the amendments passed.
The 99-page legislation includes a moderate increase in defense spending while decreasing nondefense spending measures by roughly $13 billion. Included in that spending is roughly a $6 billion increase in veterans’ health care spending.
The funding resolution also included a number of Trump-requested anomalies, which are exceptions to current funding levels to address specific needs. Among the anomalies included is a provision for increased ICE funding to help the Trump administration fast-track deportations at the southern border as well as a $20 billion cut to IRS enforcement.
Many Democrats staunchly opposed the proposed CR, with House Democratic leaders decrying the legislation as a “power grab” for the White House.
Senate Democrats made an 11th-hour proposal to vote on a 30-day resolution to buy appropriators some time to finish the budget through regular order. However, that idea did not hold much weight as the House adjourned for recess on Tuesday evening, effectively forcing the Senate to either pass the CR or force a shutdown.
That dilemma led Schumer, the highest-ranking Democrat in the Senate, to fold to his GOP colleagues as he announced on Wednesday that he would vote to end the filibuster. That announcement came as a shock to other Democratic lawmakers, especially those in the House who banded together earlier in the week to vote against the bill.
“While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “A shutdown would give Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE … the keys to the city, the state and the country.”
That reasoning was not met with open arms by all Democrats, as House party leaders gathered on Capitol Hill on Friday to urge their Senate counterparts to hold the line.
“We do not support a bill that is designed to hurt the American people that Donald Trump and far-right extremist Republicans are trying to jam down the throats of everyday Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said on Friday.
Jeffries then engaged in a number of tense exchanges with reporters, particularly after the House Democratic leader declined to say if he still supported Schumer or whether he thought it was time for new leadership in the Senate.
“Next question,” Jeffries said a number of times when pressed on the matter.
