The enate Democrats on Friday voted to block a Republican stopgap spending measure that would keep the government open through late November, setting up a perilous showdown with just days before federal funding lapses and no clear path to prevent a partial shutdown.
The 44-to-48 vote came only hours after the House narrowly approved the same measure on a 217-to-212 tally, with all but one Democrat opposed and two Republicans breaking ranks. The House bill would have extended government funding at current levels until Nov. 21, while providing $88 million in additional security funds for Congress, the courts, and the executive branch in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. It also allowed Washington, D.C. to resume spending its own local funds, after Congress voted in March to block the district from using $1 billion in funds the district had already budgeted.
But in the Senate, where Republicans needed at least seven Democrats to join them, Democrats held firm over their demands on health care and domestic spending. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the lone Democrat to vote with a majority of Republicans in favor of the bill. Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky were the only Republicans to vote against it.
The deadlock leaves Congress and the federal government in limbo. Both chambers are set to leave Washington for a recess pegged to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. While the Senate is expected to return on the eve of the Sept. 30 deadline, the House is not scheduled to be back until Oct. 1. House Speaker Mike Johnson has hinted Republicans may stay home in their districts through the end of the month, effectively daring Senate Democrats to accept the House-passed measure or take the blame for a shutdown.
With both parties dug in, there is little sign of a bipartisan deal emerging before the Sept. 30 deadline. The consequences of a lapse in funding would be immediate: hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including members of the military, would go unpaid; many government offices would close; and federal agencies would be forced to curtail services.
Republicans, who control both chambers, insist their stopgap is a “clean” measure that merely maintains funding levels and buys time for longer-term negotiations. Democrats argue that “clean” is a misnomer, pointing out that those funding levels were reduced by cuts written into the tax-and-spending package Republicans muscled through earlier this year at Trump’s urging.
Democrats countered with their own proposal that would extend government funding only through Oct. 31 and enact sweeping new health care provisions. Their measure would permanently extend Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year, reverse hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts enacted in the GOP’s Big, Beautiful Bill, restore foreign aid and public broadcasting money clawed back by the Trump Administration, and provide $326 million for heightened security of public officials—nearly four times what Republicans have proposed.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that around 4 million people would lose coverage starting in 2026 if the Affordable Care Act credits are to lapse, though such a move would increase deficits by nearly $350 billion over the next decade.
Senate Republicans dismissed the Democratic plan as unrealistic and blocked the measure in a party-line vote on Friday. “Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said ahead of the votes.
Still, Republicans cannot pass their measure without Democratic support in the Senate, where 60 votes are required to move most legislation forward and Republicans hold a narrow 53-47 majority. Six months earlier, Schumer and a handful of Senate Democrats crossed party lines to back a Republican stopgap that kept the government open through the end of the fiscal year. At the time, Schumer argued a shutdown would have given Trump even greater latitude to redirect money unilaterally. But the vote provoked a firestorm from progressive groups and rank-and-file Democrats, who accused him of capitulating without winning concessions. Schumer abandoned a planned book tour amid security concerns, and House Democrats openly criticized him for siding with Republicans.
Now, with the fallout from that decision still fresh, Senate Democrats are intent on not repeating it. “This is our chance to restore health care for millions of people in this country,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said on the Senate floor. “We are not going to be rolled again.”
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office late Friday, President Donald Trump disparaged Democrats for being willing to force a shutdown "if they don't get everything that they want." He said GOP leaders would "continue to talk to the Democrats but I think you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time."
Republicans believe they have the political upper hand, pointing to Schumer’s own past warnings against shutdowns. “What we’re seeing today from the Minority Leader is exactly what he once condemned,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said on the floor before the vote. “He is holding the American people hostage.”
Democrats counter that public sentiment is on their side, particularly on health care, and that Republicans will bear responsibility for following Trump’s command to avoid negotiating.
“Republicans cannot expect that another take it or leave it extension of government funding that fails to address health care costs is going to cut it for the American people,” Schumer said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, criticizing Trump for not negotiating with Democrats.
“Donald Trump does not want to talk,” he added. “He wants a shutdown. You have to have two parties to pass a bill.”
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