After two lengthy government shutdowns during President Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans expected Senate Democrats to force another funding fight just weeks before the midterm elections.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had other plans.
The Senate voted 89-4 Monday to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, the vehicle for a continuing resolution that would fund the government through Dec. 11. The vote was only the first procedural step, but it showed Republicans have more than enough Democrat support to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
Schumer endorsed the agreement before the vote.
“For months, Democrats have been clear: we want to fund the government, avoid a shutdown, and pass strong, bipartisan appropriations bills that improve people’s lives. The CR released today is a responsible path forward that allows continued bipartisan negotiations on a budget that delivers for American families.”
"Responsible," apparently, now means handing Democrats a string of policy concessions to move the shutdown deadline safely past Election Day.
Republicans had spent months preparing for the opposite. Democrats forced one shutdown over expired Obamacare enhanced tax subsidies in 2025, then rejected another bipartisan funding deal earlier this year following the death of leftist protester Renee Nicole Good during an encounter with immigration officers in Minnesota. That partial shutdown lasted more than 70 days.
A shutdown landing on Sept. 30 would have handed Democrats a ready-made campaign issue in the final weeks before November. Republicans decided that was a fight worth avoiding. At a price.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) negotiated the measure with committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA). It maintains current spending through Dec. 11 and includes funding adjustments for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program, disaster relief, housing programs, food assistance for low-income seniors, and national security programs, including shipbuilding.
Collins emphasized what the bill leaves out.
“This CR is straightforward. It continues current government funding levels until December 11th and includes necessary adjustments for programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), vital national security programs, including shipbuilding across multiple vessels, and the Disaster Relief Fund. The CR also avoids any poison pills.”
What Collins left out is what the bill cost to get there. Republicans gave ground. The Senate deal temporarily blocks an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rule that would have given the administration more control over federal grant approvals, a rule Collins herself had criticized but one the White House wanted. It also strips out additional Pentagon funding the White House had requested and closes language that Murray claimed, without much pushback from the GOP side of the table, could have redirected money to Border Patrol.
Murray called it a "much-improved CR" and celebrated the removal of what she called President Trump's "war spending wish list," including $1 billion sought for the proposed "Trump-class" battleships. Republicans call that framing misleading. The funding still isn't in the bill.
Not everything Democrats wanted made it in. Republicans blocked efforts to extend certain infrastructure funding beyond Oct. 1 and rejected language designed to strip OMB Director Russell Vought of the flexibility to pursue another "pocket rescission." Those were real wins. Buried under the concessions, but real.
Read More: House Advances Stopgap Funding Measure, but Senate Showdown Looms
Schumer Supports New Senate No-Pay-for-Shutdowns Bill
None of this is settled yet. Monday's vote only ended debate on the motion to proceed. The Senate still has to pass the bill. And if it does, the measure returns to the House, which passed its own version funding the government through Dec. 4 before leaving Washington for recess. The two chambers will need to reconcile the difference.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) argued that acting early was worth the cost. "There's been enough uncertainty this last year," he said, pointing to two of the longest shutdowns in history. Whether the concessions were worth the certainty is a different question.
Schumer agreed.
This time.
Editor’s Note: Democrats continue to put our nation's national security at risk simply because they want to keep illegal aliens from being deported.
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