U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) holds a copy of the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act as he speaks during a press conference, accompanied by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Republican colleagues, on the first day of a partial government shutdown, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, DC, U.S., October 1 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Two funding bills that could end the federal government shutdown failed to pass Senate votes for the seventh time Thursday.
Votes on the Republican and Democratic interim funding proposals came on the ninth day of the shutdown and as fallout from the crisis spread.
The IRS said Wednesday it was furloughing nearly half of its workforce due to a lack of funding from Congress.
Lawmakers have shown no indication that they are willing to give in to their respective party’s demands.
The Senate voted against the Republican-backed bill, which would fund the government through Nov. 21, by a vote of 54 to 45.
Democratic Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, as well as Angus King of Maine, one of two independents in the Democratic caucus, all voted with the Republicans again, as they had in previous votes.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., again voted with Democrats to oppose the GOP measure.
Republicans, who hold a narrow majority in the Senate, need about eight votes from the Democratic caucus to pass their short-term funding bill in the upper chamber, where 60 votes are needed to pass.
In the final round of voting Wednesday, the Republican Party’s bill was rejected by a vote of 54 to 45, while the Democrats’ version failed by a vote of 47 to 52.
The Senate rejected the Democratic bill by a vote of 47-50 on Thursday.
