Senate Advances Bipartisan Bills, Takes Key Step Toward Ending Schumer Shutdown

WASHINGTON, D.C. - By a vote of 60 to 40, the U.S. Senate voted to proceed to an appropriations package, bringing Congress one step closer to ending the longest-lasting government shutdown in history. Late hour negotiations delivered five additional Democrats, securing the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture. Three Democrats had voted with Republicans during the previous 14 attempts. U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) credited the progress to President Donald Trump's engagement over the past few days.

The vote is the first step of a plan led by Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to reopen the government. It opens the door to passing a modified version of the continuing resolution (CR) Senate Republicans have now voted for 15 times. The latest version of the CR will extend current government funding levels through the end of January 2026 and incorporate the content of three individual appropriations bills the Senate passed this year, including Agriculture-FDA, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-VA.

Cramer issued the following statement after voting in favor of the motion:

"After a record-breaking shutdown, we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel," said Cramer. "Advancing this appropriations package gets us one step closer to paying the troops, the border patrol agents and all the other federal workers who were inexcusably used as leverage by Democrats. While Chuck Schumer may have believed it got better and better each day the government was closed, the rest of the country paid the price for his political games."

The Senate will vote to pass the CR and appropriations bills later in the week and send them to the House, which is expected to pass the bills. The legislation will then be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign into law.