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Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer of New York leaves the U.S. Capitol after the Senate approved a House-passed spending bill on Friday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

1 of 6 | Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer of New York leaves the U.S. Capitol after the Senate approved a House-passed spending bill on Friday. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

March 14 (UPI) — The U.S. Senate on Friday night averted a looming midnight shutdown of the federal government by passing a funding bill after approving a key procedural vote with the support of enough Democrats.

The measure passed 54-46, nearly along party lines, with Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and independent Angus King voting yes and Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky voting no.

The bill now goes to President Donald Trump, who flew to his Mar-a-Lago estate from Washington, D.C., early Friday evening.

The earlier vote to end the filibuster needed to be approved by at least 60 senators.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer was among nine Democrats and one independent to approve a motion to end the filibuster 62-38. Paul of Kentucky was the lone Republican to vote against the cloture to end debate.

Other Democrats voting for cloture were Dick Durbin of Illinois, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Kristen Gillibrand of New York, Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Hawaii, Gary Peters of Michigan, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. King also approved the cloture.

There are 53 Republicans, so help to end the filibusters was needed from Democrats. In some matters, including the funding bill, only a majority vote is needed with the Senate president, usually the vice president, breaking the tie.

The Senate voted on the six-month government funding bill that was passed by the House, which adjourned until March 24.

The 99-page bill includes a slight increase in military spending but a $13 billion cut in domestic nondefense spending.

Schumer announced on the Senate floor on Thursday that he would be voting for it.

He explained his vote to CNN on Friday.

“My job as leader is to lead the party and if there’s going to be danger in the near future, to protect the party,” he said. “And I’m proud I did it. I knew I did the right thing, and I knew there would be some disagreements. That’s how it always is.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday morning he expected the chamber would avert a shutdown.

“The sooner we get this wrapped up the better, honestly, but you know, obviously it’s somewhat dictated by the tempo the Democrats are dictating,” Thune said.

On Friday, President Donald Trump praised Schumer, writing on Truth Social: “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing – Took ‘guts’ and courage! The big Tax Cuts, L.A. fire fix, Debt Ceiling Bill, and so much more, is coming. We should all work together on that very dangerous situation. A non pass would be a Country destroyer, approval will lead us to new heights. Again, really good and smart move by Senator Schumer. This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning!”

The CR bill, which will fund the federal government through Sept. 30, passed the House on Tuesday almost exactly on party lines at 217-213, with one Democrat voting for and one GOP member against.

House Democrats largely remain against the CR, as a statement released Thursday by their leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., stated that Democrats in Congress “remain strongly opposed to the partisan spending bill under consideration in the Senate.”

U.S. Rep., Nancy Pelosi of California, who was aligned with Schumer when she was the House Speaker until 2023, criticized Senate Democrats backing the GOP funding bill.

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk have offered the Congress a false choice between a government shutdown or a blank check that makes a devastating assault on the well-being of working families across America,” she said in a statement on X.

House Democrats, with their session adjourned, gathered 40 miles away in Leesburg, Va., at their annual policy retreat.

More than 50 House Democrats signed a letter critical of Schumer, including fellow New Yorker, Ocasio-Cortez, who called the decision “a tremendous mistake.” ABC News reported some Democrats are calling for her to primary him in the next election in 2028.

“What voting for the CR does is that it codifies the chaos and the reckless cuts that Elon Musk has been pursuing,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The robbing of our federal government in order to finance tax cuts for billionaires, is what is happening, and that is what Senate Democrats will be empowering if they vote for the CR.”

Schumer spoke on the Senate floor Thursday, saying that Democrats had tried to offer “a way out” of the possible bill failure, a stopgap measure to fund the government for another month, but Republicans rejected that proposal “outright.” He accused Trump of wanting “full control of government spending,” and forcing GOP senators “to cower into submission” instead of working out a CR that would be more agreeable to both parties.

He said a shutdown would give Trump and Elon Musk, who runs the Department of Government Efficiency, “full authority to deem whole agencies, programs and personnel non-essential, furloughing staff with no promise they would ever be rehired,” leaving the decision of what would be considered essential “solely” to the Executive branch, “with nobody left at the agencies left to check them.”

Democrats were pushing for a 30-day continuing resolution.

Their private caucus meetings became hostile.

This week, CNN reported Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet got angry during one of the Senate Democrats’ private meetings.

Two sources said that Bennet accused Senate Democratic leadership of having “no strategy, no plan and no message” on the spending bill.

Tina Smith of Minnesota said in a statement: “This bill we are voting on is not a ‘clean Continuing Resolution,’ and it does not continue the spending and policy law that Congress passed last year,” she said in noting funding would be slashed for health needs.

“President Trump and House Republicans wrote this bill on their own, with no consideration for my views or any of my Democratic colleagues, and they will own the consequences. From the beginning, President Trump and the Republicans set this up as an unprecedented power grab.”

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said the bill gives the Trump administration too much flexibility in how to spend funds. She called it “slush funds for the Trump administration to reshape spending priorities, eliminate longstanding programs, pick winners and losers.”

Fetterman announced Wednesday on X that “I will never vote to shut the government down.” He was the first Democrat to support the measure.

He told CNN: “There are going to be people that are going to vote no on this, but they will be free riders because they know, secretly, they know that shutting the government down is (going) to be a disaster.”

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