Senate blocks military spending bill as shutdown drags on

Senate Democrats blocked a $852 billion bill that would fund the Defense Department through September, rejecting Republican efforts to approve individual full-year spending bills as the government shutdown stretches into its third week.

The vote was seen as a litmus test for Democrats, who have been pushing Republicans to agree to extend health care subsidies in exchange for reopening the federal government. Just three Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the bill: Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), John Fetterman (Pennsylvania) and Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada).

The bill fell 10 votes short of advancing, indicating that most Democrats were unwilling to weaken their negotiating position or break from leadership even as the Trump administration redirects funds to pay active-duty troops and seeks to lay off furloughed federal workers.

The House has passed its own version of the legislation, but the measures are not the same, which means the military would not be funded even if the bill passes the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has kept the lower chamber out of session since the beginning of the shutdown, would have to bring lawmakers back to Washington to resolve the differences between the two bills.

The bill passed out of the Appropriations Committee in July with the support of nearly all of the panel’s Democrats. But since then, the political calculus has changed.

Democrats were hesitant to support the bill as they sought to force Republicans to negotiate with them on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies and demand GOP assurances that any spending agreements wouldn’t be reversed by President Donald Trump. The administration has repeatedly challenged Congress’s constitutional power of the purse by freezing spending, canceling contracts and clawing back funds without lawmakers’ input.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he has offered Democrats a vote on the ACA subsidies but can’t guarantee that enough Republicans will support an extension for it to pass the Senate.

“It’s a question of whether they’re willing to take yes for answer,” he told reporters Thursday. “I don’t know what more we can offer them. Like I’ve said before, I can’t guarantee a result or an outcome.”

But he also indicated part of the goal with the vote Thursday was to dare Democrats to block it as the shutdown continues: “If they want to stop the defense bill, I don’t think it’s very good optics for them.”

Democrats have pressed Republicans to package the defense bill with other spending bills, which Thune has said he was willing to do. But doing so would require unanimous consent from every senator — and Schumer said not all Republicans had agreed to package the bills together, giving Democrats a reason to oppose the defense bill.

“We have always negotiated these appropriation agreements in a bipartisan way,” Schumer told reporters Thursday. “Once again, they’re just going at it alone.”

Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Wednesday that defense is “critical,” which is why Democratic senators helped pass a separate defense policy bill last week.

“But we have to focus on the whole spectrum of it. That means get a [funding extension] in place, get people back to work. And also, I think we have to fix this health care problem simultaneously, because it’s very serious,” he said, adding that he had not yet decided how he would vote Thursday. He wound up opposing the measure.

Republicans criticized Democrats for holding up a bill that would increase defense spending.

“Our adversaries are not standing still,” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, said in a statement. “They are growing their military capacities and preparing for the changing realities of modern warfare.”

Republicans also hammered Democrats for rejecting a bipartisan measure that most of them supported months ago in committee.

Any Democratic support means “that they’re trying to find a way out,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). “They have no leg to stand on with President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth making sure men and women in the military are paid. The rest of the shutdown is based on what Schumer wants to do.”

Shaheen said she voted to take up the bill as a first step toward rebuilding trust with Republicans.

“We can, and should, try to move forward on a bipartisan appropriations process even as we work to prevent tens of millions of Americans from seeing a massive spike in their health insurance premiums in the coming days,” she said in a statement.

Over the weekend, Trump announced that the administration was going to use Pentagon research and development funds to ensure active-duty military didn’t miss paychecks on Wednesday. The administration did not seek approval from lawmakers to do so, which budget experts have said may be illegal. He also issued an order this week saying the Pentagon could spend any available funding on military pay — which may also violate the law.

Some Republican senators were hopeful that progress on regular appropriations bills — which were technically due at the end of September, when the fiscal year changed over, but are often finalized in mid-December — would appeal to their Democratic counterparts.

The Senate may also vote next week to work with the House on the only full-year spending bill that has already passed both chambers, which would fund military construction and veterans affairs.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday that she is optimistic that might persuade some Democrats to end the shutdown.

“If the Democrats can see the regular appropriations process running more smoothly, it might encourage them to stop blocking the reopening of government,” Collins said.