Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) walks on the day of the Senate Republicans' weekly policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 19, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Senate held a key procedural vote Friday afternoon, voting in favor of cloture on the GOP's funding bill and signaling Democrats have the votes to pass the six-month stopgap legislation.
Passing the stopgap funding bill at a final vote, expected later Friday, would avert a government shutdown.
The procedural vote required 60 affirmative votes to overcome the legislative filibuster and advance the bill to a final vote. No less than eight Democrats had to join Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance the bill. The cloture vote received 62 votes in all.
At least 10 Democrats voted in favor of cloture, including Senate Minority Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and John Fetterman (D-PA).
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The Senate will now move to a final vote on the six-month funding extension, which only requires a simple majority for approval.
The funding bill would have to pass through a final vote or the government will shut down at midnight Friday.
The GOP stopgap bill would fund the federal government through Sept. 30. It calls for cutting $13 billion in domestic spending from the previous fiscal year and increasing defense spending by $6 billion. The bill narrowly passed the House.
Chris Coons (D-DE) told CNN's Kasie Hunt as the Senate voted it was a "terrible CR" and said Democrats should've demanded a 30-day extension and continued to negotiate the longer funding bill.