US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (L) enters the US Capitol with an impending government shutdown looming, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 14 March 2025. The GOP's seven-month stopgap measure passed in the House of Representatives but faces opposition in the Senate - particularly from Democrats who worry about the increase in defense spending and major decrease in non-defense federal spending. Image: MAANSI SRIVASTAVA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Updated: The Senate advanced a cloture vote on Friday to end debate on a continuing resolution to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year, which was signed in time to avoid a midnight deadline.
In what has become a too-familiar situation in recent years, Congress has been barreling toward a funding lapse. Signs on Thursday emerged that the bill could narrowly pass, with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-NY, saying he would vote yes, suggesting other colleagues might concede as well. Only a handful did, with infighting among Democrat lawmakers spilling over into the weekend.
Earlier in the week House Republicans sent their funding bill to the Senate and adjourned for recess, stepping up pressure in the Senate. Under the bill DoD and VA each would receive about $6 billion additional, while offsetting reductions do not directly impact federal employment pay or benefits. However, the bill includes some $13 billion in cuts to non-defense funding levels.
In taking that approach, the GOP leaders abandoned their plan dating to this time last year to enact regular appropriations bills, with the fiscal year now already about half gone and with much work that still would need to be done to enact those bills.
The two temporary extensions enacted to this point for the fiscal year passed the House with the majority of Republicans and some Democrats. However, this time GOP leaders had to pass the measure almost exclusively with votes from their own members, as Democrats pushed for guarantees that appropriated money would be spent as designated—assurances that the GOP was unwilling to provide, giving the White House greater flexibility to continue downsizing and firing workers.
On the other hand, a shutdown could have potentially freed the White House and DOGE even more by allowing them to designate which workers are “essential” and which would be sidelined during an uncertain, indefinite period. Schumer warned there was no “off ramp” once a shutdown began, and described the quandary as a “Hobson’s choice” with only one real option.
In the House the vote was tight as well. GOP leaders could afford to lose no more than two votes from their own caucus (it passed 217 – 213), with some members strongly opposed to any stopgap budget measures and who wanted to use the opportunity to cut, not maintain, spending levels.
Once the situation turned to the Senate, Republicans needed at least seven Democrats to join them to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. Following a contentious Senate Democrat luncheon on Wednesday where shouting was reportedly heard through closed doors, lawmakers emerged acknowledging they did not have many good choices, and with the GOP in a commanding position.
As is common in such situations, both sides busied themselves throughout the week laying the groundwork for blaming the other for a potential shutdown, which would have put a large part of the federal workforce on unpaid furlough and indefinitely delayed their paychecks.
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