The Senate voted primarily along the party line Friday afternoon to pass a bill controlled by the House to fund the government until September.
President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.
The final vote was 54-46. Two members of the Democratic Caucus voted for Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.), who is resigning at the end of his current term, and an independent Angus King (Mayne), who works with the Democrats. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted.
Passing the bill means lawmakers will fight by re-funding the government until the fall, and not clearing up the ways Republicans focus on enacting Trump's agenda, such as funding border security and extending the 2017 tax cuts and employment law.
The spending bill passed the House slightly on Tuesday with a 217-213 vote.
It sparked a fierce battle within the Senate Democrats' Caucus over how to handle packages made without democratic input into their homes.
The legislation will increase defense spending by $6 billion, increase border enforcement funds, and reduce non-disability spending by $13 billion.
It doesn't include the language that instructs the Trump administration on how to spend the money, as it's more problematic for many Democrats. Some Democrats warned that regardless of what Congress wanted, Trump and his advisers could avoid funds in order to support their priorities.
The Democrats, led by Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), a top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, urged colleagues to beat the House proposal and instead passed a 30-day government fundraising halt.
In an interview, Merckley told CNN that the House bill was a “hell no.”
He argued that accepting the House GOP bill would only burn Trump and Musk.
“You don't stop bullying by handing over your lunch money, and you won't stop the tyrant by giving him more power,” he said.
Major progressive senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also led the charges from the left, killing bills that went to the house and helping to raise strong opposition to the bill from party activists.
Only Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) came out early in support of moving forward with the House bill. It warned that government shutdowns could cause chaos and cause the country to fall into a recession.
Senate Democrats held long luncheons throughout the week to discuss how to best deal with impasses, and the discussion became extremely passionate and they could hear the senator screaming through the thick oak doors in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room, just off the Senator.
Senate Republicans managed 53 seats, needed at least eight Democratic votes to overcome the filibuster and advance the law to the final vote.
Controversial bills usually require 60 votes to pass the filibuster.
House Republicans passed the funding bill on Tuesday, postponed it and made it clear they have no plans to return to Washington before Friday's funding deadline.
It put pressure on Senate Democrats as it became clear that blocking the House bill would likely lead to government shutdowns.
The House bill appeared to be in serious danger of failing until Thursday, when Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) announced on the Senator's floor that he would vote to advance the measure.
Schumer admitted that the bill drafted by the House was “very bad,” but warned that the potential shutdown would result “a lot worse.”
He told government efficiency department leaders Trump and Elon Musk that the shutdown would “destruct important government services at a much faster rate than they are now.”
Schumer told reporters Thursday evening that efforts to pass a clean 30-day fundraising bill instead had no support from Republicans.
Schumer's decision sparked an outrageous backlash from liberal Democrats, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), who accused him of being “betrayal.”
After learning of Schumer's decision, Ocasio-Cortez told reporters that he “has a deep sense of anger and betrayal.”
“And this isn't just progressive Democrats. It's all over the board, the whole party,” she said.
Ocasio-Cortez said Schumer betrayed the House Democrats, where Trump won in 2024, when he voted very strict on the bill earlier this week. Only a single Democrat voted for the House action.
She said these vulnerable House Democrats voted harshly “to defend Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, to protect the American people, just to see Senate Democrats.”
“I think it's a big slap in the face,” she said.
Fetterman spurred Ocasio-Cortez's criticism and claimed that she and other liberals had no final game to end the government's closure.
“I hope I can tell you how unconcerned I don't care about her opinion on this,” he said when asked about Ocasio-Cortez's comments.
“I'm going to stand up to what I happen to believe is the right thing to do, but 'What are the exit plans after shutting down the government?' What about millions of Americans who destroy their lives? ” he asked.
“What about things that don't have a salary? But she's going to have a salary,” he said.
Political cover from Schumer led eight other Democrats to vote to advance the bill on Friday afternoon.
In addition to Schumer, Katherine Cortez Mast (Nvada), Dick Durbin (Illinois), Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), Maggie Hassan (NH), Gary Peters (Michigan), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Shaheen and Fetterman advanced the scale. Independent King, who conspires with the Democrats, also voted to bring it to the final vote.
The Senate considered and rejected several amendments before voting to pass the bill.
One amendment sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) would have revived veterans who were fired from federal jobs under Trump.
Another person hosted by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD.) would have eliminated government efficiency.
The third person sponsored by Merkley would have eliminated the $20 billion withdrawal of the IRS tax enforcement funds that House Republicans included in the bill.
The fourth person sponsored by Paul would have codified the reduction in foreign aid recommended by government efficiency.
Senate Republicans defeated all the democratic amendments, with a bipartisan majority defeating Paul's amendments. If the senators made changes to the bill, they would have needed a law back to the House for final approval.
