Senate Blocks Defense Spending Bill Amid Shutdown
On Thursday afternoon, Senate Democrats blocked a defense spending bill intended to ensure military personnel receive their pay during the ongoing government shutdown.
The Senate vote ended at 50-44, with just three Democrats opting to break from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in favor of the bill that aimed to support defense funding year-round. This rejection occurred while the government has been shut down for 16 days, with significant partisan disagreements preventing any resolution.
This Defense Appropriations bill was designed to allocate necessary funding for the Department of the Army for the upcoming fiscal year. A crucial aspect of the measure was to ensure active-duty soldiers wouldn’t miss their paychecks during this shutdown, including proposed raises for military personnel.
Interestingly, military personnel would have gone unpaid as of Wednesday for the first time in U.S. history if President Trump hadn’t utilized unspent Pentagon funds for temporary cover. However, if the shutdown persists into November, future paychecks for these personnel remain uncertain.
Democratic Senators John Fetterman (PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), and Jeanne Shaheen (NH) partnered with Republicans to advocate for a defense spending bill that would guarantee soldiers’ salaries for an entire fiscal year. This funding measure had passed the Appropriations Committee with considerable bipartisan support back in July.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized Democrats for obstructing the bill during a passionate speech, questioning their commitment to military personnel. He pointed out that just last week, Democrats voted against a bill that would actually fund soldiers, after previously supporting a measure intended to increase their pay.
Thune accused Democrats of prioritizing political objectives over American service members’ welfare, highlighting a contradiction in the Democratic Party’s self-image as champions of the working class. He raised questions about whom they genuinely cared for in the midst of this political turmoil.
Republican Senator Eric Schmidt from Missouri remarked that the rejection of the defense spending bill showed a lack of seriousness among Democrats regarding spending matters. He expressed that their refusal to allocate funds to counter President Trump’s policies would not resonate well with the American people.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut acknowledged earlier in the day that Congress had a duty to ensure military pay during the shutdown but still voted against the defense spending bill. He argued for a legal and proper way to fund troops instead of reallocating existing funds, as had been done by President Trump.
A majority of Senate Democrats also filibustered a bipartisan funding measure that could have ended the government shutdown, which has now lasted 10 days. Senators Fetterman, Cortez Masto, and independent Angus King opposed Schumer’s stance, which aligned with Republicans in seeking to reopen the government.
Thune pressed for a vote on a stopgap measure to temporarily fund the government, while Schumer insisted that Democrats would not agree to support any bill until Republicans conceded to include unrelated health policy demands.
This ongoing government shutdown is anticipated to stretch into the next week, potentially becoming one of the longest in U.S. history, with the Senate scheduled to reconvene on Monday. Thune expressed his frustration that Democrats have repeatedly dismissed various funding proposals introduced during the shutdown.
He concluded with a call for reasonable Democrats to reconsider their position, emphasizing that a government shutdown serves no one’s interests, a sentiment not unfamiliar in past discussions on this issue.
