Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Approves Spending Bill to Avert Government Shutdown
“The Senate narrowly averted a government shutdown by passing a G.O.P.-written stopgap spending measure, funding the government through September 30th. The vote was largely along party lines, with ten Democrats joining Republicans to allow the measure to advance. Democrats are concerned that the lack of specific congressional instructions in the bill will give the Trump administration more power to allocate funds.
Where Things Stand
Shutdown averted: The Senate on Friday narrowly averted a government shutdown at midnight, passing in a 54-46, nearly party-line vote a G.O.P.-written stopgap spending measure that funds the government through Sept. 30. But the key vote came earlier, when Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and nine other Democrats joined Republicans in allowing the measure to advance, effectively thwarting a potential filibuster by their own party. Read more ›
Justice Department: President Trump assailed in biblical terms the “weaponization” of the Justice Department under his predecessor, Joseph R. Biden Jr., saying during a meandering speech in the Great Hall of the department’s headquarters that the law was used to punish the “innocent” and “reward the wicked.” The president, however, has vowed to use his power to exact retribution on his opponents. Read more ›
Pinned
The Senate on Friday narrowly averted a government shutdown at midnight, passing a G.O.P.-written stopgap spending measure after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, and a small group of Democrats joined Republicans in allowing it to advance.
The final vote to pass the spending measure, which would fund the government through Sept. 30, was 54 to 46, nearly along party lines. But the key vote came earlier, when after days of Democratic agonizing, Mr. Schumer and nine other members of his caucus supplied the votes needed to allow it to move ahead, effectively thwarting a filibuster by their own party in a bid to prevent a shutdown.
The action came just hours before a midnight deadline to avoid a lapse in funding.
The spending debate inflamed intraparty tensions among Democrats that have simmered for weeks about how to mount the most effective resistance to President Trump at a time when he is taking full advantage of his governing trifecta — control of the White House, Senate and House — to trample on congressional power, slashing federal funding and firing government workers with little regard for the guardrails that normally constrain the executive branch.
Mr. Schumer’s abrupt decision to reverse himself and allow the spending legislation to advance stunned many of his colleagues and angered many Democratic lawmakers and progressive activists who were spoiling for a shutdown fight to show their determination to counter Mr. Trump. Many in his party vociferously opposed the temporary spending measure, arguing that it was a capitulation to the president that would supercharge his efforts, and those of his billionaire ally Elon Musk, to defund and dismantle broad swaths of the government.
As recently as Wednesday, Mr. Schumer was arguing strongly against the bill and proposing a monthlong alternative to allow Congress to reach an agreement on individual spending measures with specific instructions over how federal funding should be doled out.
But he reversed course on Thursday after Republicans rejected a shorter-term stopgap bill, with a shutdown looming and amid concerns that Democrats would be blamed.
Recognizing that Democrats were left with only an up-or-down alternative, Mr. Schumer argued that a shutdown would only play into the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, ceding more power to them to commandeer federal agencies. In a shutdown, he said, the Trump administration could decide which federal workers would be deemed “nonessential” and furloughed. And he warned that Republicans would have little incentive to reopen the government.
“As bad as the C.R. is,” Mr. Schumer said on Friday morning, using shorthand for continuing resolution, “I believe that allowing President Trump to take more power is a far worse option.”
Democrats joining Mr. Schumer in voting to move it forward included several members of his leadership team — Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada — and two who have announced their plans to retire: Senators Gary Peters of Michigan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire also voted yes, as did Senator Angus King, the Maine independent who caucuses with their party.
Ms. Shaheen and Mr. King also voted for final passage. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose it.
“Today’s vote on the continuing resolution was a difficult and close call, but ultimately, I made the determination that a flawed bill was better than no bill at all,” Mr. Schatz said in a statement. “A shutdown would enable Donald Trump and Elon Musk to unilaterally determine that the vast majority of federal workers are not essential. And given the number of federal workers in Hawaii, mass furloughs would be deeply painful for people across the state.”
The Republican stopgap legislation would largely keep federal funds flowing at levels set during the Biden administration, but would increase spending for the military by $6 billion. It would not include funds for any earmarks for projects in lawmakers’ districts or states, saving roughly $13 billion.
It also would effectively slash the District of Columbia’s budget by roughly $1 billion over the next six months. But as part of Mr. Schumer’s agreement with Republicans to allow the bill to move forward, the Senate was set to consider a separate measure that would reverse that cut, which local leaders had warned would force dramatic cuts to essential services.
What most concerns Democrats is that the stopgap measure does not contain the specific congressional instructions to allocate money for programs usually included in spending bills. Top Democrats, including Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the party’s lead appropriator, have warned that the lack of explicit directions would essentially create slush funds for the Trump administration at a time when it has already disregarded spending directives set by Congress.
“We have already seen how far President Trump, Elon Musk, and Russ Vought are willing to twist — and outright break — our laws to suit their will,” Ms. Murray said, referring to Russell Vought, Mr. Trump’s budget director. “But House Republicans are setting them up to make everything so far look like child’s play.”
The measure’s Democratic opponents included senators from across the ideological spectrum. A number of centrists voted against the measure, as well as those facing tough re-election contests next year.
The intraparty divide over the measure boiled down to a dispute among Democrats about which of two bad outcomes would be worse for the country. Mr. Schumer and those who voted to allow the spending patch to move forward argued that failing to do so would cause a shutdown that would give Mr. Trump maximum latitude to fund or defund whatever parts of government he saw fit to. But other Democrats said funding the government when the president was moving unilaterally to cut programs and employees would endorse his actions and cede even more congressional control.
Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who will face voters next year, said in a statement that he was against the legislation in part because it failed “to impose any constraints on the reckless and out-of-control Trump administration.”
“Both parties in Congress must fulfill our Constitutional obligation to check the president,” Mr. Ossoff said.
Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, blamed Mr. Schumer and Democrats for the funding predicament Congress found itself in because of a failure to push annual spending bills through while the Senate was under Democratic control last year.
“To be clear, Republicans aren’t thrilled about another C.R.,” Mr. Thune said Friday before the vote. “But it is our best option to make sure that last year’s failure by Democrats doesn’t interfere with this year’s appropriations process.”
He pledged to make the annual spending bills a priority to try to avert a similar pileup next year.
A federal appeals court paused a lower court ruling in Maryland that had blocked enforcement of a series of executive orders by President Trump targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs — allowing the widespread crackdown on such initiatives across the federal government to go forward, for now.
The Senate just unanimously voted to pass legislation that would restore a measure left out of the spending bill, resulting in a cut to the District of Columbia’s budget of roughly $1 billion over the next six months, a change that local leaders warned would force dramatic cuts to essential services. Speaking in support of the legislation, Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said the bill allowing the District to restore its funding levels, had the support of the White House and the top Appropriations Republican in the House.
It still needs approval by the House and a signature by President Trump.
The bill next heads to President Trump for his signature. It was a largely party-line vote. Only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, opposed the legislation. Two members of the Democratic caucus, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, and Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, voted to support it.
The Senate has passed the G.O.P. funding bill to avert a shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday in a 54-to-46 vote.
President Trump once again praised Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, for his support of the G.O.P. funding bill.
“I appreciate Senator Schumer, and I think he did the right thing,” Trump said before boarding Air Force One, adding he was “very impressed by that.”
The Senate is voting now on final passage of the G.O.P. funding bill.
The fourth and final amendment to the stopgap spending bill that has been defeated in the Senate was led by Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, and would have codified DOGE-driven cuts to U.S.A.I.D. That amendment needed only a simple majority vote to pass, so Republicans locked arms with Democrats to defeat it in a 27-to-73 vote. If it had been added to the bill, the House would have needed to come back into session to pass the amended legislation.
The Senate defeated a third Democratic amendment by Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland seeking to cut off federal support to the Elon Musk-led effort by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Van Hollen, who represents thousands of federal employees, called DOGE an effort to rig government for the rich, not find efficiencies. Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, defended the Musk effort and said it was being successful in rooting out waste, a claim that drew jeers from Democratic senators. The vote was 52 to 48 against it.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Friday that he was expelling the ambassador to the United States from South Africa, Ebrahim Rasool. Rubio wrote on social media that the ambassador was a “race-baiting politician who hates America” and President Trump. He added that “we have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.” Rubio made his comments above a repost of an article from the right-leaning outlet, Breitbart News, on remarks Rasool made on Friday at an institute in Johannesburg. The article highlighted Rasool saying that Trump was leading a “supremacist” movement against “the incumbency.”
Rubio said on social media last month that he would not attend the meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in South Africa, criticizing the South African hosts for having a focus of the meeting be on “solidarity, equality and sustainability.” Other countries did not follow Rubio’s boycott. China sent its top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, who held meetings with counterparts from other countries while Rubio was absent.
Before final passage of the funding bill, the Senate will take up — and almost certainly defeat — four proposed amendments, three of which Schumer and Democrats demanded in exchange for allowing the measure to move forward. The first to be considered and rejected was a proposal from Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, to restore funding for tax enforcement. Republicans have been pushing to reduce spending at the I.R.S. for two years.
That amendment was defeated in a 47 to 53 party-line vote, falling far short of the 60-vote threshold needed for passage.
The second amendment to be considered and rejected was a measure from Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, that would reinstate all veterans who were fired from their jobs as part of the Trump administration’s purge of federal employees. It was defeated in another 47 to 53 vote.
The Senate cleared a critical procedural hurdle to avert a government shutdownat midnight, after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and nine other members of his caucus voted to thwart a filibuster by their own party. A final passage vote, ensuring federal funds will keep flowing, is expected this evening.
Senator Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii and an appropriator, has voted to proceed to a vote on the stopgap bill.
“Today’s vote on the continuing resolution was a difficult and close call, but, ultimately, I made the determination that a flawed bill was better than no bill at all,” Schatz said in a statement. “A shutdown would enable Donald Trump and Elon Musk to unilaterally determine that the vast majority of federal workers are not essential. And given the number of federal workers in Hawaii, mass furloughs would be deeply painful for people across the state.”
While President Trump was speaking at the Justice Department, the Senate started voting to clear the way for final passage of the Republican stopgap bill to avert a shutdown Saturday at 12:01 a.m. The vote is still open, but so far nine Democrats and an Independent have voted with Republicans to break a filibuster of the measure.
Trump’s speech ends with no major policy announcements. It served primarily as both a victory lap and public rebuke of everyone who once worked inside the Justice Department on the criminal cases against him.
Trump’s language aside, the aggregate of the four indictments against him bothered some of his sharpest critics, who didn’t think all of the cases were worth prosecuting a former president over.
Trump’s speech at the Great Hall of the Justice Department ends with the pumping drumbeat of “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People.
Trump says he may never speak at the Justice Department again, and at first questioned whether it was appropriate. “It’s not only appropriate, I think it’s really important,” he said.
Trump has circled back to his original complaint that he was unfairly prosecuted. He cites a famous legal phrase, “where law ends, tyranny begins,” and says that “somebody was allowed to attack viciously his political opponent,” and declares that era over.
Two words Trump has not mentioned, in a rarity: the government-cutting effort known as DOGE or Elon Musk.
Trump just took a break from his political attacks to commend Mexico’s strategy for combatting drug overdoses and fentanyl. He says Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, told him about their advertising campaign informing the public about the health consequences of taking drugs. He said his administration will adopt a similar strategy.
Trump announces an ad campaign to combat fentanyl.
The fight against fentanyl, which often kills because people don’t even know they are taking drugs laced with it, has been one of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s primary objectives.“
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