Senate approves Trump's plan to avert government shutdown

The Senate approved the Republican proposal to avoid the government shutdown, thus sending the Continuing Resolution (CR) straight to President Donald Trump's desk. After ten Democrats, including Chuck Schumer (D-NY), helped Republicans reach 60 votes to pull the legislation from debate, the final vote was 54-46.

Indeed, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Angus King (I-ME) were the only Democrats to go along with the Republican CR, while Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only GOP senator to vote against it. Kentucky had previously anticipated his vote, so his refusal came as no surprise to his colleagues in the upper chamber.

The vote took place on the deadline to avoid the shutdown, and funding will be extended for another six months. Although Schumer had anticipated that Democrats would block the CR, he eventually changed his mind. As reported from The Hill, although the more progressive ones supported voting no, the more centrist ones weighed that triggering a shutdown would hurt Democrats more than Trump, especially those senators in key states up for renewal of their seat in 2026.

"Republicans have again stood together to get the job done"

Mike Johnson, speaker of the House of Representatives, celebrated the coming together of nearly all Republicans to avoid the shutdown, while criticizing the Democrats' near-total opposition on the final vote.

"Republicans have again stood together to get the job done, this time to pass a CR that freezes spending and funds the government for the remainder of FY25. Shamefully, 99% of Democrats in Congress voted to SHUT DOWN the government—simply because they seem to hate President Trump more than they love America," he expressed on his X account.

"Never forget that Democrats voted to withhold: the paychecks of our troops, border patrol agents, and TSA employees; health care and benefits for veterans; and essential services and programs—just to make a meaningless political point. While Democrats try to use the American people as political pawns, Republicans are working to deliver real, positive results for everyone," added the Louisiana Republican.