U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) holds a copy of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act as he speaks during a press conference, accompanied by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other fellow Republicans, on the first day of a partial government shutdown, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 1, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Two funding bills that could end the federal government shutdown failed to pass in Senate votes for the seventh time on Thursday.
The votes on dueling Republican and Democratic stop-gap funding proposals came on the ninth day of the shutdown, and as fallout from the crisis spread.
The IRS on Wednesday said that it was furloughing nearly half of its workforce because of the lack of funding by Congress.
Lawmakers showed no indication that they are open to yielding on their respective party’s demands.
The Senate voted against the GOP-backed bill, which would fund the government through Nov. 21, in a 54-45 vote.
Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, as well as Angus King of Maine, one of two independents in the Democratic caucus, all again voted with Republicans, as they have done on prior votes.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted again with Democrats to oppose the GOP measure.
Republicans, who hold a narrow majority in the Senate, need about eight votes from the Democratic caucus in order to pass their short-term funding bill in the upper chamber, where 60 votes are required for passage.
In the last round of voting on Wednesday, the GOP bill was rejected 54-45, while the Democrats’ version fell short in a 47-52 tally.
On Thursday, the Senate rejected the Democratic bill in a 47-50 party-line vote.
Read the original article here