Democrats Cave on Government Funding, Will Receive Nothing for Ending Schumer Shutdown
A disastrous shutdown for Democrats deepened Sunday when Senate Democrats walked away from government funding without receiving anything substantial in return.
Eight Democratic senators voted Sunday evening with 42 Republicans on a procedural vote to allow a continuing resolution (CR) funding government advancement.
The motion passed 60-40, with not a single vote to spare, and will allow for a future vote on a continuing resolution through January 30, 2026, accompanied by three relatively non-controversial appropriations bills running through the fiscal year: Agriculture, Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and the Legislative Branch.
The agreement includes back pay for federal employees and guarantees that the more than 4,000 federal employees laid off during the shutdown will be rehired, as well as a blanket ban on future workforce reductions until January 30. Those jobs are just a drop in the ocean compared to the roughly 250,000 the Trump administration cut before the shutdown.
Most importantly, the deal does not guarantee an extension of the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies during the Covid era, with Democrats only receiving the assurance of a vote on a bill of their choice.
“As I have been telling my Democratic friends for weeks, I will schedule a vote on their proposal, and I am committed to holding that vote no later than the second week of December,” Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on the Senate floor before the vote.
Even if such a bill were to pass the Senate, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has not committed to bringing it to the House floor.
The result is that the Democrats once again promised results to their base, but came back empty-handed, inflicting forty days of pain without anything substantial.
Democratic Senators Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Dick Durbin (IL), Jacky Rosen (NV), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) supported the procedural vote. They joined Senators Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NM), Angus King (I-ME), and John Fetterman (D-PA), who previously voted to allow the House-passed CR to move forward.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (KY) voted no, as he has in previous rounds of voting.
The result is another victory for Thune, who kept the Senate in session over the weekend to seek a deal, promising to keep senators working until an agreement is reached.
Perhaps most importantly, the vote represents the latest — and most damaging — setback for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). His own rank-and-file members – centrists and the most liberal – condemned his shutdown strategy Sunday night.
Schumer is increasingly becoming the main villain of the ascendant left within the Democratic Party, and his hold on the position of minority leader appears increasingly tenuous.
A sign of how toxic the end of confinement will be for Democrats is that none of the Democratic senators who voted on Sunday to begin the process of reopening the government are candidates for re-election in 2026.
Cortez-Masto, Fetterman and Hassan won’t have to run again until 2028, while Kaine, Rosen and King won’t run again until 2030. Shaheen and Durbin are retiring.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), the most threatened Democratic incumbent, voted no.
Voting was held open for more than an extra hour to allow Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who was in Texas during a brutal three-way primary fight, to arrive in Washington.
The Senate must gain unanimous consent on deadline agreements to allow for rapid passage, but a vote on final passage is likely by midweek. The amended bill must then pass the House.
Bradley Jaye is deputy political editor of Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
