Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks alongside Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 30, 2025. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Shutdown averted: Enough Senate Democrats vote with the GOP to pass a government funding bill
Democrats were split on the vote, with some wanting to use it as leverage to fight Department of Government Efficiency cuts.
The Senate on Friday approved, 54-46, a House-passed continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown that would have otherwise begun at midnight.
The key vote occurred earlier when 10 Democrats voted with most Senate Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to end debate on the bill, which will largely maintain current funding amounts for the rest of the fiscal year.
While Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had said that Democrats wouldn’t vote for the bill, he reversed himself Thursday. In a floor speech, he argued that a shutdown would more easily enable President Donald Trump and de facto Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk to eliminate federal programs and furlough employees.
Some Democrats said they wanted to use the shutdown fight to push back against DOGE cuts across the government.
Before the vote on final passage, Senate Democrats offered amendments that were mostly rejected in party-line votes. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, however, did vote for an amendment from Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., that he said would shut down DOGE.
The House passed the CR on Tuesday in a mostly party-line vote.
The federal government has been operating under a CR since the last fiscal year ended on Sept. 30.