WASHINGTON (AP) — A spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate, paving the way for passage as a midnight Friday deadline loomed.
Ten Democrats joined with Republicans to clear the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the measure. The vote was 62-38.
Democrats were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting a funding lapse ensue. Alongside Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, a small group of them chose to avoid a shutdown at all costs.
Schumer gave members of his caucus days to vent their frustration about the options before them, but abruptly switched course and made clear on the eve of voting that he will not allow a government shutdown. His move outraged many in the party who want to fight the Trump agenda, but gave senators room to side with Republicans and allow the continuing resolution, often described as a CR, to advance.
Democrats from all corners looked to pressure senators to kill the bill. House members wrote letters, posted on social media and held press conferences in the hours before the vote.
“The American people sent Democrats to Congress to fight against Republican dysfunction and chaos,” said a letter from 66 House Democrats to Schumer.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and his team dashed back to the Capitol urging senators to block the bill and negotiate a true compromise with Republicans.
Some Democrats also argued that Republicans would take the blame for a shutdown, given they controlled all the levers of power in Congress and the White House.
“If you refuse to put forward an offer that includes any Democratic input and you don’t get Democratic votes, that’s on Republicans,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
In contrast, Schumer picked up one unexpected nod of support — from Trump himself, who just a day earlier was gearing up to blame Democrats for any shutdown.
“Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing — Took ‘guts’ and courage!” the president posted on his social media account.
Schumer has acknowledged the difficult choice he faced, but insisted Democrats would not allow a government shutdown and warned of the havoc Trump and Musk could bring if federal offices shuttered.
“A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer said, referring to the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
Congress has been unable to pass the annual appropriations bills designed to fund the government, so they've resorted to passing short-term extensions instead. The legislation before the Senate is the third such continuing resolution for the current fiscal year, now nearly half over.
The legislation would fund the federal government through the end of September. It would trim non-defense spending by about $13 billion from the previous year and increase defense spending by about $6 billion, which are marginal changes when talking about a topline spending level of nearly $1.7 trillion.
The Republican-led House passed the spending bill on Tuesday and then adjourned. The move left senators with a decision to either take it or leave it. And while Democrats have been pushing for a vote on a fourth short-term extension, GOP leadership made clear that option was a non-starter.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and others made the case that any blame for a shutdown would fall squarely on Democrats.
“Democrats need to decide if they're going to support funding legislation that came over from the House, or if they're going to shut down the government,” Thune said.
Progressive groups urged Democratic lawmakers to insist on the 30-day extension and oppose the spending bill, saying business as usual must not continue.
“There’s still time,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico at a House Democratic retreat in Leesburg, Virginia. “So, any of my colleagues in the Senate who are considering voting on cloture, the American people are shouting: Please do not hand the keys over to Elon Musk."
But Schumer said Trump would seize more power during a shutdown, because it would give the administration the ability to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired.
Democrats have been critical of the funding levels in the bill. But they are more worried about the discretion the bill gives the Trump administration on spending decisions. Many Democrats are referring to the measure as a “blank check” for Trump.
Spending bills typically come with specific funding directives for key programs, but hundreds of those directives fall away under the continuing resolution passed by the House. So the administration will have more leeway to decide where the money goes.
For example, a Democratic memo said the bill would allow the administration to steer money away from combating fentanyl and instead use it on mass deportation initiatives.
Democrats also object to clawing back $20 billion in special IRS funding, on top of the $20 billion rescission approved the year before through legislation passed by Democrats during Joe Biden's presidency.
The spending bill before the Senate is separate from the GOP effort to extend tax cuts for individuals passed in Trump's first term and to partially pay for them with spending cuts elsewhere in government.
That second package will be developed in the months ahead, but it was clearly part of the political calculus.
“You're looking at a one-two punch, a very bad CR, then a reconciliation bill coming down, which will be the final kick in the teeth for the American people,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the Democratic arguments for voting against the bill were hypocritical because they were essentially calling for shutting down the government to protect the government.
“Democrats are fighting to withhold the paychecks of air traffic controllers, our troops, federal custodial staff,” Cotton said. “They can't be serious.”
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Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this story from Leesburg, Va.
Kevin Freking And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press
