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Republicans plan to bring the bill back to the floor on Wednesday, confident that even more Democrats may break ranks. If that happens, it would be a crushing embarrassment for Schumer and could hand the GOP a much-needed victory in the fight to reopen the government.
Sen. Cortez Masto, who holds a leadership position within the Democratic caucus, made it clear that her priority is protecting her constituents, not scoring partisan points.
“This administration doesn’t care about Nevadans, but I do. That’s why I cannot support a costly shutdown that would hurt Nevada families and hand even more power to this reckless administration,” she said in a statement.
She warned that a government shutdown would devastate her state, leaving tens of thousands of service members, police officers, nurses, and federal employees working without pay. She also noted it would force union contractors across Nevada, including at the National Security Site, out of work.
Sen. Angus King also struggled with the decision but concluded that voting with Republicans was the lesser of two evils.
“I just came from the Senate floor where I took one of the most difficult votes I’ve taken since I’ve been in the Senate,” King explained in a video message. “Many feel that this was an opportunity to stand up to Donald Trump, to vote no and to fight back.
“The irony, the paradox is by shutting the government we’re actually giving Trump more power and that was why I voted yes. I did not want to hand Donald Trump and Russell Vought and Stephen Miller additional power to decimate the federal government,” he said.
King pointed to Trump’s own warning from the Oval Office, where the former president suggested Democrats could suffer long-term damage to their agenda if the government shut down.
“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Trump told reporters.
Sen. Fetterman has also been outspoken about his opposition to a shutdown. Earlier this month, he was the only Democrat to vote for a GOP stopgap measure, signaling his willingness to break from Schumer’s hardline approach.
“The president has a lot of levers he could pull. This is one we could pull, but why would we pull that lever? Because that allows him to pull a lot more levers,” Fetterman told reporters on Capitol Hill.
“I think that would be the ideal for Project 2025,” he added.
Senate Republicans see the Democratic cracks as a major opportunity. GOP Whip John Thune (R-SD) told reporters after the vote that the momentum is shifting.
“There are some Democrats who are very unhappy with the situation they’re in,” Thune said. “We need … another five” Democratic votes to pass the stopgap measure. “We need eight total.”
Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats, but because Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) refuses to back any resolution that maintains Biden-era spending levels, the GOP must pick up additional Democratic support to hit the 60-vote threshold.
Thune confirmed Republicans will keep pressing the issue in the days ahead, bringing the House-passed bill up for repeated votes until more Democrats cave.
The bottom line? Schumer’s grip on his caucus is slipping, and with the pressure mounting, more Democrats may decide to side with Republicans rather than risk angering voters by dragging the country into another painful shutdown.
