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The situation for Democrats took a turn for the worse on Sunday as Senate Democrats agreed to fund the government without securing any significant concessions in return.
On Sunday night, eight Senate Democrats joined forces with 42 Republicans to approve a procedural vote, moving forward with a continuing resolution (CR) aimed at keeping the government operational.
This crucial motion passed narrowly, 60 to 40, and sets the stage for a forthcoming vote on a clean CR that extends funding through January 30, 2026. It will also include three largely uncontroversial appropriations bills covering agriculture, military construction and Veterans Affairs, and the legislative branch for the fiscal year.
The deal promises back pay for federal workers and ensures that the more than 4,000 federal employees affected by the shutdown will be rehired. Additionally, it prohibits any further reductions in force until January 30. However, these measures pale in comparison to the approximately 250,000 positions cut by the Trump administration prior to the shutdown.
Notably absent from the agreement is a guarantee for the extension of Covid-era enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies. Democrats received only a promise for a future vote on a bill of their choosing.
“As I have said for weeks to my Democrat friends, I will schedule a vote on their proposal, and I have committed to having that vote no later than the second week in 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 floor of the House.
The result is that Democrats once again overpromised results to their base but came up empty-handed, inflicting forty days of pain for nothing of substance.
Democrat Sens. Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Dick Durbin (IL), Jacky Rosen (NV), and Tim Kaine (D-VA) supported the procedural vote. They joined Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-NM), Angus King (I-ME), and John Fetterman (D-PA), who had previously voted to allow the House-passed CR to advance.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (KY) voted no, as he has done throughout prior rounds of votes.
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 a deal was struck.
Perhaps more significantly, the vote is 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 primary villain for the ascendant left inside the Democratic Party, and his hold on the position of Minority Leader seems increasingly tenuous.
In a sign of how toxic the shutdown end will be for Democrats, no Democrat senators who voted Sunday to begin the process of reopening the government are up for reelection in 2026.
Cortez-Masto, Fetterman, and Hassan will not have to run again until 2028, with Kaine, Rosen, and King not up again until 2030. Shaheen and Durbin are retiring.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), the most endangered Democrat incumbent, voted no.
The vote was held open for well over an additional 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 receive unanimous consent on time agreements to enable speedy passage, but a vote on final passage is likely by the middle of the week. The amended bill must then pass the House.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye.
