Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., conducts a news conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., on Jan. 21, 2025 Credit – Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
In a dramatic break with much of their party, ten Senate Democrats voted alongside Republicans on Friday to pass a six-month funding bill, averting a government shutdown with just hours to spare. The move defied a majority of the chamber’s Democrats who opposed the measure, underscoring deep divisions over how to confront President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.
Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada were among the first Democrats to publicly back the Republican funding bill, arguing that a shutdown would only strengthen Trump’s hand. They were joined by six more Democrats—Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—as well as Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats.
“This was not an easy decision,” Cortez Masto, who represents a state that Trump carried last year, said in a statement. “I’m outraged by the reckless actions of President Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans in control of Congress, so I refuse to hand them a shutdown where they would have free rein to cause more chaos and harm.”
For many Democrats, the bill was more than just an unfavorable spending deal; it was a moment to push back against what they see as the Trump Administration’s creeping executive overreach. The legislation stripped away numerous funding directives, giving Trump the power to reallocate money as he saw fit without fear of judicial intervention.
Read more: In Averting a Shutdown, Schumer Ignites a Rebellion
The spending measure, which passed the House earlier in the week, was presented to the Senate as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. The vote in the Senate was 62-38, with 37 Democrats opposing the bill along with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who wanted the measure to codify Trump’s cuts to foreign aid.
Schumer’s decision to support the bill marked a turn from earlier in the week when he sought a 30-day extension to negotiate a bipartisan compromise. His pivot drew sharp criticism from House Democrats, who had largely united against the measure. At a retreat in Leesburg, Va. Thursday night, they made urgent appeals to their Senate counterparts, with lawmakers texting and calling senators throughout the day. “I think there is a deep sense of outrage and betrayal,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told reporters at the retreat. “And this is not just about progressive Democrats. This is across the board. The entire party.”
Prior to the vote, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic appropriator, published a list of examples of programs that the measure could allow Trump to change, such as diverting resources from combating fentanyl to funding mass deportation efforts and giving him more authority to pick which health-care or mental health programs to implement.
Adding to the opposition was the bill’s treatment of Washington, D.C., which would have been forced to roll back its budget to the prior year’s levels, requiring $1.1 billion in cuts. Schumer said immediately prior to the vote that he had negotiated a deal with Senate Republicans to pass a D.C. funding fix—but the measure would still need to pass the House, which is on recess.
The political implications of voting with Republicans are uncertain, but the vote ensured that the government would remain funded through September, averting furloughs for federal workers and disruptions to key services.
However, the anger within the Democratic caucus is likely to linger, and could spell trouble for Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since 2017. While no Senator has publicly called for his ouster, murmurs of discontent have grown louder, particularly among progressives who feel he has conceded too much ground to Republicans.
Here are the nine Democrats, and one independent, who helped avoid a shutdown:
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)
The Senate Minority Leader, who has been the chamber’s top Democrat since 2017, sent shockwaves when he announced he would back the Republican spending bill on Thursday evening.
“While the [continuing resolution] bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse,” Schumer said on the Senate floor in announcing his decision.
He argued that a shutdown would allow Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to accelerate efforts to dismantle federal agencies. “A shutdown will allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” he warned on Friday. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk would be free to destroy vital government services at a much faster rate.”
While Schumer framed his support as a necessary step to prevent Republicans from exploiting a shutdown, many in his party saw it as a surrender. His vote, combined with his leadership in pushing the bill forward, has fueled speculation about whether his position atop the Democratic Senate caucus remains tenable. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked on Friday whether Schumer had “acquiesced” to Trump, Jeffries sidestepped the question: “That’s a question that is best addressed by the Senate.” Asked if the Senate needed new Democratic leadership following Schumer’s move, Jeffries replied: “Next question.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.)
Cortez Masto, who represents a state that Trump carried last year, emphasized that her decision to support the bill was not taken lightly. She cited concerns that a shutdown would provide Trump and his allies with more opportunities to erode federal institutions.
“A government shutdown would be devastating for the American people,” she said in a statement, arguing that it would force thousands of Nevadans to work without pay and delay the courts which are weighing lawsuits against the Trump Administration. “The last government shutdown cost the American economy $11 billion and thousands of hardworking Americans were harmed. I cannot vote for that,” she said.
As one of the more moderate Democrats in the Senate, Cortez Masto has often navigated a fine line between party unity and the political realities in Nevada, where she was narrowly re-elected to a six-year term in 2022. In voting for the bill, she broke with fellow Democratic Senator from Nevada, Jack Rosen, who voted against it. The pair rarely split on issues.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, had not publicly shared how he would vote for the Republican spending bill before he walked onto the Senate floor. Ultimately, he voted for it.
In siding with Republicans and nine other Democrats, Durbin broke with fellow Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who said she was a “hell no” on the bill.
In a statement posted to X, Durbin said: “There is very little about this CR that I like—but there is even less I like about shutting down the government.” He added that he was “disappointed” that Republicans would not work with his party to pass a 30-day stopgap measure that would have given Congress more time to reach a bipartisan agreement.
Durbin, who is 80, has served in the Senate since 1997 and is widely expected to retire soon.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)
Fetterman, who represents a state Trump won in both 2016 and 2024, has been an outspoken critic of his party’s political messaging in recent months. He was the first Democratic Senator to announce his support of the Republican spending bill, arguing that a shutdown would have given Republicans the power to dictate the terms of reopening the government.
“You don’t start wars unless you have an exit plan. We had no exit plan,” Fetterman said. “That would give [Republicans] the absolute, absolute ability to decide, on their terms, how to reopen it after we shut it down, just to respond to our highly agitated left part of our party.”
Fetterman, who was elected to a six-year term in 2022, has consistently positioned himself as willing to buck Democratic orthodoxy when he believes it serves working-class voters. His decision to back the bill fits within his broader critique of Democratic messaging, which he has repeatedly argued fails to resonate with key voting blocs.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Gillibrand, who chairs the Senate Democratic campaign arm, joined her fellow New York Senator in backing the bill. While Schumer’s support carried the weight of party leadership, Gillibrand’s vote signaled that even some Democrats focused on electoral strategy saw avoiding a shutdown as the better political option.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.)
Hassan, a former governor, was once considered a vulnerable Democrat given her narrow win in 2016. Her lead in 2022, when she was re-elected to a second six-year term, was less narrow. But New Hampshire remains a competitive state for both parties. Last year, voters there backed Democrats for Congress and Kamala Harris for President, but also elected a Republican governor and expanded Republican majorities in the state legislature.
Both Hassan, and New Hampshire’s other Senator, Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, voted for the Republican spending bill.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine)
King, a Maine Independent who caucuses with Democrats, referred to the vote as “two really bad choices” in a video posted to X. He added that he voted for the spending bill “because a shutdown would open the door to unprecedented, lasting damage.”
While Maine is far from a swing state, it shifted slightly to the right in the previous presidential election. King, 80, is a particularly popular figure within the state; he has served in the Senate since 2013 and was a two-term Governor before that. King won a third six-year term in the Senate in November.
“The problem is with a shutdown, the President and Elon Musk and the OMB have almost unfettered discretion about what happens,” King said. “Who’s essential, who’s not essential, what agencies can get to work, which ones don’t. And in my view, and in the view of many of my colleagues, this is a significantly greater danger to the country than the continuing resolution with all of its faults.”
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.)
Another Senator from a state Trump won in 2024, Peters defended his decision to vote for the Republican spending bill: “I believe Congress must do its most basic job to keep the lights on,” he said in a statement.
“When the first Trump Administration shut down the government, they repeatedly broke the law,” he added. “This time, they would take it even further.”
Michigan’s other Democratic senator, Elissa Slotkin, voted against the bill. Their conflicting votes highlight the difficult balancing act for Democrats in battleground states, where political calculations often involve not just party loyalty, but also the concerns of a divided electorate.
Earlier this year, Peters announced he would not run for re-election when his current term ended in 2026.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)
In a statement, Schatz called his vote a “difficult and close call” but said he ultimately “made the determination that a flawed bill was better than no bill at all.”
“I understand people’s frustration — I share it,” he said. “But Trump and the Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, presented us with a bad choice and a worse choice. Both would produce terrible outcomes, but a shutdown would be more devastating for everyone.”
Referencing the opposition to his vote from progressives, he added that Democrats “can’t let disagreements about strategy and tactics divide us.” Schatz has served in the Senate since Dec. 2012, easily winning re-election to a second full term in 2022.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Shaheen, who announced earlier this week that she will not run for re-election in 2026, said in a statement that a government shutdown “would have hurt Granite Staters and enabled President Trump and Elon Musk to do more harm.”
She said she hoped Congress would stop relying on “never-ending continuing resolutions” like the one passed today, which she warned would only increase instability in government operations. A continuing resolution, also known as a CR, is a temporary funding measure that allows the federal government to keep operating at current spending levels when Congress fails to pass a full appropriations bill—a common theme in recent years.
Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com.
