Ten Senate Democrats cave to avert government shutdown
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) leaves the Democratic caucus lunch. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Ten Senate Democrats joined with the Republican majority in voting to move forward with a stopgap spending bill Friday — clearing the path to avoid a government shutdown.
Why it matters: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is facing outrage from his party, including House leadership, over his decision to vote for the bill. Many Democrats wanted to force a shutdown to protest President Trump and Elon Musk's sweeping federal spending cuts.
- The key procedural vote was 62-38. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the only Republican who voted "no."
- The Senate voted 54-46 a short time later to send the stopgap measure to Trump for his signature ahead of a midnight deadline. It funds the government through Sept. 30.
- Schumer did manage to get GOP leadership to agree to hold a vote to ensure that the D.C.'s budget did not suffer a $1 billion cut. The House's bill was written to include the budget reduction, sparking concern.
Zoom in: After days of lengthy caucus meetings and threats of a shutdown, Schumer announced Thursday evening he would be voting "yes" to clear the way for Republicans to pass the spending bill.
- Despite public outrage especially from House progressives, Schumer delivered the needed votes, drawing support from moderates, members of his leadership team and retiring Democrats.
- Democratic Sens. Richard Durbin (Ill.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Brian Schatz (Hawaii) (Nev.) all voted "yes" in addition to Schumer, — as did Maine's Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats.
Cortez Masto told reporters before the vote that a shutdown would give Trump and Musk "more authority to cherry-pick" which agencies to close and "would cost the economy billions of dollars.
- "I'm not going to exacerbate that," she added.
What to watch: The Senate voted to pass the measure Friday after leaders reached an agreement to speed up the process.
- "Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took 'guts' and courage!" Trump posted Friday on Truth Social, calling Schumer's decision to back the bill a "really good and smart move."
Zoom out: The bill largely maintains 2024 levels of spending through the end of September, with some additional defense funds and nearly $500 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- The measure narrowly passed the House earlier this week with all Republicans except Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) voting for it and all Democrats except Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) voting against it.
- Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) ability to get the bill through the House — despite his narrow margins and skeptical conservatives — presented Senate Democrats with a tough choice: Join Republicans or risk getting blamed for a government shutdown.
Go deeper: Inside House Dems' furious anti-Schumer movement
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
