Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Senate will vote Friday afternoon on temporary funding measures to end the federal government shutdown on its third day or see it extended into Monday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said the government could reopen as soon as a funding bill is passed.
“This shutdown needs to end sooner rather than later, and there’s only one way out of it,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Friday, as reported by ABC News.
Democrats need to vote for the clean, non-partisan continuing resolution sitting right there,” Thune said. “All it takes is one roll call vote, [and] the government’s back open.”
Thune referenced the continuing resolution that passed the House of Representatives but has not mustered enough support for Senate Democrats to overcome the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster.
Senate Democrats John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and independent Sen. Angus King Jr., who caucuses with Senate Democrats, have voted to support the House-approved resolution.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is the lone Republican to vote against the GOP’s continuing resolution, which failed, 55-45, on Monday.
With the GOP controlling 53 Senate seats, it would need all Republican Senators and four more from the Democratic Caucus to join with Fetterman, Masto and King to support the continuing resolution that extends the same funding that was in place a week ago with no changes.
If approved, the GOP resolution would fund the government for another seven weeks while Congress negotiates a budget for the 2026 fiscal year that began on Wednesday.
Senate Democrats have proposed an alternative bill that would fund the government through Oct. 31 and add $1.5 trillion in spending, including extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and $1 trillion in spending on Medicare.
That measure failed twice by votes of 47-53 on Monday and Tuesday.
The Senate has scheduled votes on funding resolutions by the GOP and Senate Democrats on Friday afternoon and will recess afterward, Thune said.
If both votes fail, Thune said the Senate will adjourn until Monday, which would extend the federal government through the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has halted $2.1 billion in federal funding for public transportation infrastructure in Chicago and $18 billion for projects in New York City.
The Trump administration also canceled $7.5 billion in funding for energy projects in states carried by former Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.
President Donald Trump said his administration also will determine which federal agencies will be defunded and possibly eliminated.
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