OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
11:55 AM – Wednesday, October 1, 2025
For the second time in 24 hours, Senate Democrats blocked a House-passed stopgap spending bill that would have funded the government and ended the ongoing shutdown.
On Wednesday morning, hours into the official government shutdown, the Senate voted on two funding bills to hopefully open the federal govenrment back up.
The first bill, supported by Republicans, was denied via a 55-45 vote.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Senator John Fetterman (D-Penn.) are the two Democrats to support the bill against their party’s position, voting to advance the bill on Tuesday night and Wednesday Morning. Independent Senator Angus King (I-Maine) also voted for the bill. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the one Republican to break rank and vote against the bill.
The Senate also voted 53-47 against a Democrat proposal that would fund their healthcare priorities and limit President Donald Trump’s ability to cut funding.
Both bills needed 60 votes to advance to the official passage vote.
The two parties have thrown blame back and forth over what Republicans have branded as day one of the “Schumer shutdown.”
“We’re not going to engage in bipartisan discussions while Democrats are holding the federal government hostage to their partisan demands,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
“The way out of this shutdown is to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to address the looming health care crisis,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday.
A large point of contention regarding the funding bills is healthcare. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that a funding bill must include an extension of the Affordable Care Act credits that are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans are refusing to negotiate on Obamacare credits until after the government is open.
Vice President JD Vance echoed this idea from the GOP lawmakers in a White House Press conference on Wednesday.
“We need to reopen the government, let’s fix America’s problems,” he said. “Let’s work together to solve them, but let’s reopen the government before we have our negotiation about health care policy.”
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