Senate Republicans will try again to advance the measure before government funding is due to expire at the end of the September.
WASHINGTON—The Senate on Sept. 19 failed to advance a House-passed bill to fund the government until Nov. 21, less than two weeks before a shutdown deadline.
The Senate failed to get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster on the bill. The vote was 44-48.
The government runs out of funding on Oct. 1 as the last day of the fiscal year is Sept. 30. The bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), would fund the government at current levels. It also includes $88 million in security funding for members of Congress, the executive branch, and Supreme Court justices in the wake of the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Earlier on Friday, the House passed the measure in a 217–212 vote. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), joined 216 Republicans in support of it. GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) voted against the bill in protest against spending levels that they say are too high.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) alleged that the GOP stopgap funding bill would later be rescinded by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress. Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill to claw back $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public broadcasters.
“It cannot be tolerated. Why pass a budget if [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russell Vought can unilaterally rescind it,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Before the Senate vote, Republicans in the chamber blocked a competing Democratic stopgap bill in a 47-45 vote.
The Democratic proposal would extend enhanced Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year, and reverse Medicaid reforms enacted in Trump’s tax-cut-and-spending bill passed over the summer. It would also place limits on the Trump administration’s ability to claw back funding approved by Congress.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), appearing on the Senate floor before the votes, called the Democratic bill “a dirty CR laden down with partisan policies and appeals to the Democrats’ leftist base.”
The Senate is currently scheduled to recess next week because of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year. This means that senators won’t return until Sept. 29—one day before the shutdown deadline.
