Senate Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada broke ranks and voted with Republicans against a shutdown of the U.S. government.
Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, also voted with Republicans on the measure, which would have extended federal funding for seven weeks and failed on a 55-45 vote.
The last shutdown came during President Donald Trump’s first term, from December 2018 to January 2019, when he demanded funding for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. He ended the standoff after 35 days — the longest shutdown in history — as airport delays mounted and federal workers missed paychecks.
Republican leaders say they were encouraged that three members of the Democratic Caucus voted for their bill.
“We can reopen it tomorrow,” Thune said, adding that he was looking for a handful of Democrats to break party lines.
Democrats had warned they would allow a shutdown unless Trump and GOP leaders agreed to their health care demands. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York accused Republicans of trying to “bully” Democrats by refusing to negotiate on health care benefits and other priorities.
Rather than negotiate, Democrats and Republicans have traded blame and held firm to their positions.
“It’s only the president who can do this. We know he runs the show here,” Schumer said Tuesday morning, after a bipartisan White House meeting the day before yielded little progress. “Republicans have until midnight tonight to get serious with us,” Schumer said.
Trump and Republican leaders said they would not consider changes to the bill, calling it a stripped-down, “clean” measure that should have been noncontroversial.
Thune said he would continue to press Democrats to vote for a temporary funding bill.
“The Democratic Caucus here in the Senate has chosen to shut down the government over a clean, nonpartisan funding bill,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said.
Updates: 9/30/25, 7:43 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
