Senate passes spending bill in order to prevent government shutdown

Key Takeaways

• The Senate approved a bill to fund the federal government until September, removing the threat of a government shutdown.
• Though in the minority, Senate Democrats could have blocked the budget using the Senate's filibuster rule. Ten Democrats joined the Republicans to avoid a shutdown.
• Some Democrats wanted to use a shutdown threat to restrain President Trump and his cost-cutting advisor, Elon Musk, from slashing federal programs without Congress's approval.

The Senate passed Friday a bill funding the federal governments through September. This prevented a government shut down.

The Senate voted by 62-38. Ten Democrats joined Republicans to push the bill above the 60-vote requirement to bypass a Filibuster. The vote ended any possibility of a government shutdown on Saturday due to a stopgap measure expiring. The new stopgap measure was then approved by a vote of 54 to 46. The bill will now be sent to President Donald Trump. According to reports, he is expected to sign the bill.

This new bill paves the way for Republican legislators to craft a new federal spending plan that includes trillions in tax cuts.

The vote defeated an effort by some Democratic members who wanted to use a threat of shutdown to curtail President Donald Trump’s mass firings.

Some Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio Cortez from New York had urged Senate Democrats in order to leverage the threat of a shutdown to get concessions from Republicans.

Ocasio-Cortez, along with other House Democrats who voted almost unanimously against the continuing resolution, argued it empowered Trump and Elon Musk to continue their campaign to fire federal workers, cancel government grants and contracts and bypass the authority of Congress in controlling the government’s expenditure levels.

The end of the shutdown conflict removes an X-factor in a federal policy outlook that is full of uncertainty, especially with Trump’s rapidly changing trading efforts.

Updated March 15, 2025 – This article has been updated with the passage of the legislation.