Shutdown looms as ‘unified’ U.S. Senate Dems oppose GOP’s stopgap spending bill

March 12, 2025

By Jennifer Shutt – States Newsroom D.C. Bureau

WASHINGTON D.C. — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer appeared to announce Wednesday that a partial government shutdown will begin on Friday at midnight, when a stopgap spending law expires.

“Funding the government should be a bipartisan effort, but Republicans chose a partisan path drafting their continuing resolution without any input, any input, from congressional Democrats,” Schumer said during a brief floor speech. “Because of that, Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR.”

Schumer, of New York, said Senate Democrats were “unified” on instead passing a stopgap spending bill that would fund the federal government through April 11, which he argued would give Congress more time to negotiate final agreement on the dozen full-year spending bills.

“I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday,” Schumer said.

While voters in November gave the GOP control of both chambers of Congress, the stopgap spending bill the House passed Tuesday cannot make it through the Senate without Democrats.

Republicans hold 53 seats at the moment, but moving past procedural votes requires at least 60 senators to vote in favor of limiting debate.

Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul has publicly opposed the House’s stopgap spending bill, meaning that at least eight Senate Democrats would have to break ranks to move toward final passage.

Further complicating matters, the House left Tuesday for its weeklong St. Patrick’s Day recess and won’t return to Capitol Hill until Monday, March 24.

So were the Senate to amend the House-passed stopgap spending bill, which funds the government through the end of September, that chamber wouldn’t be around to vote on it before the Friday shutdown deadline.

And even if the Senate were to pass Democrats’ month-long stopgap spending bill as Schumer suggested, which seems highly unlikely, the House wouldn’t be around to vote to send it to President Donald Trump.

This is a developing report that will be updated.