Democrats in the Senate on Thursday reportedly blocked consideration of a Republican-backed defense spending bill that would have guaranteed pay for America’s military service members during the ongoing government shutdown.
The vote, 50 to 44, fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance, with only three Democrats breaking from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to support the measure.
The legislation would have funded the Department of War for the full fiscal year, ensuring active-duty troops received their paychecks and securing a military pay raise.
But despite its bipartisan origins—it had passed out of the Appropriations Committee with near unanimous support in July—Democratic leadership chose to filibuster the bill, prolonging the standoff that has left much of Washington paralyzed for 16 days.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has spearheaded efforts to keep military pay flowing during the shutdown, condemned Democrats for blocking the measure. “After voting last week for an authorization bill to increase troop pay, Democrats just voted against the bill that would actually pay the troops,” Thune said on the Senate floor. “They’re happy to sacrifice any American and evidently any principle to their political goals.”
Thune accused Democrats of hypocrisy, saying their rhetoric about defending working Americans rings hollow. “Democrats like to position themselves as the party of the little guy and the defender of hard-working Americans,” he said. “But as this vote makes clear, who do Democrats really care about?”
The shutdown has already tested the limits of the administration’s ability to protect military pay. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump used unused Pentagon funds to temporarily cover troop salaries—the first time such a measure was necessary in U.S. history.
But officials have warned that without congressional action, there is no guarantee of future paychecks if the shutdown continues into November.
Three Democrats—Senators John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—joined Republicans in voting to advance the defense appropriations bill. Their votes stood out in contrast to the rest of their party, which remained unified behind Schumer’s strategy of blocking all Republican funding measures.
Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri said Democrats’ refusal to advance the bill proves they are “not serious about working on appropriations bills.” He added that blocking pay for troops is “a losing argument with the American people” and accused Democrats of holding the military “hostage” to gain leverage over President Trump.
Even some Democrats acknowledged the moral dilemma. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said earlier Thursday that Congress has an “obligation” to pay service members during the shutdown—but ultimately voted against the defense bill. “We have an obligation, and now an opportunity, to pay our military in a lawful way instead of just moving funds from one account to another, as President Trump is doing,” Blumenthal said.
Earlier in the day, Democrats also blocked a bipartisan proposal to reopen the government for the tenth time since the shutdown began. Only Fetterman, Cortez Masto, and independent Senator Angus King joined Republicans in voting to end the funding lapse.
With no breakthrough in sight, the shutdown is now expected to stretch into next week—making it one of the longest in U.S. history. The Senate will not reconvene until Monday.
Thune, clearly frustrated, said Democrats’ obstruction has gone too far. “At some point, reasonable Democrats are going to have to come to the conclusion that this doesn’t benefit anybody,” he said in an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Vitali. “I don’t believe government shutdowns benefit anybody—and that used to be a position that was held by the Democrat leadership.”
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