BREAKING: Senate fails to advance funding bill as gov shutdown looms

The Senate failed to advance a funding bill that would avoid a government shutdown that may take place on Friday. The vote stood at 45 to 55, with the Democrats voting against the advancement of the funding bill that includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security.  

Democrats voted against advancing the funding bill in a procedural vote. The motion needed 60 votes in favor, but only got 45. Several fiscally conservative Republicans also voted against the bill because of separate spending concerns. 

The Republicans who voted against included Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who voted late, but immediately entered a motion to reconsider the package, which allow him more flexibility to bring it back to the floor, per The Hill. Senator John Fetterman, who had been voicing support for keeping the government open, surprisingly voted against the bill as well.  

The package includes six bills, but the Democrats voted against advancing the package since it includes funding for DHS. The Republicans who voted against the bill includes those who are most fiscally conservative in the chamber, including Sens. Rand Paul, Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Ashely Moody, Rick Scott, and Tommy Tuberville. 

Leading up to the vote, Lee pointed out spending he took issue with the bill, posting to X, "Bad things happen when Congress: (A) funds things the federal government wasn’t designed to do—like paying for elevator renovation at New York’s Metropolitan Opera (an entity with total assets valued at more than $500 million and multiple employees with annual salaries exceeding $1 million), and (B) doesn’t fund things the federal government is supposed to do—like enforcing our nation’s borders and immigration laws Democrats want to fund the Metropolitan Opera, but not the Department of Homeland Security They have it exactly backwards." 

Scott also posted about spending in the bill, talking about earmarks such as new elevators at the Met building as well.