WASHINGTON — The Senate rejected two proposals to extend government funding on Friday, leaving Congress at a standstill just 11 days before the government is scheduled to shut down if a funding plan is not approved.
The Senate voted on competing packages led by Democrats and Republicans, but both failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster — grinding action to a halt until party leaders can come to an agreement. Negotiations are likely to continue over the coming days, but the Senate is scheduled to adjourn for recess next week to observe the Rosh Hashanah holiday and won’t return until Sept. 29.
That leaves just two days for senators to come to an agreement on government funding.
Democrats forced a vote on their counterproposal Friday morning, which would have extended current government funding until Oct. 31 and provide millions of dollars in additional spending for lawmaker security. However, the bill also includes language to reverse health care cuts previously approved in President Donald Trump’s tax package this summer and to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits.
Republican leaders balked at those demands, accusing Democrats of pushing partisan policies in what they say should otherwise be a nonpartisan effort.
Due to filibuster rules in the Senate, any piece of legislation must receive 60 votes to conclude debate — meaning bills would need bipartisan support to succeed.
The Democratic proposal failed in a 47-45 vote with no GOP support.
The Senate then voted on the GOP-led stopgap funding bill that passed the House in a mostly party-line vote hours earlier. Only one House Democrat backed that measure.
The Republican version would extend current spending levels through Nov. 21 but does not include any additional language on health care policy. Like the Democratic proposal, it included millions of dollars in additional spending for lawmaker security.
The continuing resolution fell short of the votes needed to overcome a filibuster, ending in a 48-44 vote. One Democrat voted in favor while two Republicans voted against.
Top Republican appropriators in the Senate lamented at their Democratic colleagues for objecting to the clean CR, calling the additional spending included in the counterproposal “poison policies.”
“Senate Democrats had the opportunity to join Republicans in passing a commonsense, short-term resolution to keep the government open and give us more time to pursue an agreement on full-year appropriations bills,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said in a statement. “Instead, they decided to vote against this measure that would allow critical government services and activities to continue.”
It’s not yet clear how lawmakers will move forward, but Democratic leaders have been adamant they won’t support any funding bill unless it contains their key demands on health care spending — requests that Republican leaders have said are “nonstarters.”
“Democrats have to take yes for an answer,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said on Friday.
There are some Republican senators who could be open to making deals with Democrats, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who said she agrees with many of their proposals. However, she said she opposed the longevity of some policies, pointing to the permanent extension of the Obamacare tax credits.
Instead, the Alaska Republican said she would be open to just a two-year extension. Murkowski voted against both CR proposals on Friday.
As of now, senators are not expected to return until Sept. 29, although negotiations could continue during the recess period. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican appropriator in the Senate, told reporters those conversations would likely happen within leadership.
However, it’s unlikely changes will be made to the underlying spending package.
Thune said the Senate would vote on the GOP package again, but it’s not yet clear when. However, he made clear it would not be Friday.
If any changes are made, it must be sent back to the House for approval before it can be signed by the president.
House GOP leaders want to avoid any changes to its spending measure, and instead have engaged in conversations about leaving Washington until after the Oct. 1 deadline — thereby “jamming” the Senate to swallow the bill as-is or take the blame for a shutdown. The House officially canceled votes for Sept. 29 and 30 on Friday, but told lawmakers to be on stand-by in case the government enters a shutdown.
“I’ve heard those conversations. I may have started a few of them myself,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told the Deseret News on Thursday. “At some point, the Senate is going to have to do their work, and Senate Democrats are going to have to figure out — Chuck Schumer is going to have to decide, does he want to shut the government down and defund our military just because he wants to give taxpayer benefits to illegals?”
What’s in the spending bill?
House Republicans unveiled their spending proposal on Tuesday, extending current spending levels through Nov. 21 — giving lawmakers seven weeks to finalize the rest of the budget before the Thanksgiving holiday.
The CR also includes an additional $30 million for lawmaker security as well as another $58 million for federal government officials — $30 million for those in the executive branch and $28 million within the judicial branch.
The CR also includes a number of anomaly requests from the White House, including a budget fix for the local government in Washington, D.C. The language would give the D.C. Council the authority to spend money from its own budget roughly six months after Congress mistakenly passed a law that resulted in a $1.1 billion funding shortfall.
Although Washington has its own mayor and city council, its local budget is ultimately under the control of Congress, which must approve it every year. That’s typically done with routine language in the annual appropriations bill — but it was inadvertently left out of the package when passed in March.
That reverted the city’s spending cap to 2024 levels despite the city already passing its budget for the 2025 fiscal year, leaving a $1 billion funding gap. That would be restored in the latest package.