Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) became the third Senate Democrat to publicly support advancing the House-passed stopgap funding bill as a government shutdown looms.
The Senate will vote on cloture Friday for the spending bill to keep the government funded at current levels through the end of September, with $8 billion more in defense spending and $13 billion in non-defense spending cuts. The bill will need 60 votes to invoke cloture, with a succeeding vote on the legislation only needing a simple majority.
Currently, 52 of the 53 Senate Republicans are expected to support cloture, while only three Democrats have publicly said they will support cloture. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the first to announce his support, followed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday and Cortez Masto on Friday.
In a statement explaining her support, Cortez Masto denounced President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s actions in changing the federal government but said a government shutdown would be “devastating for the American people.”
“Shutting down the government gives President Trump and Elon Musk even more power to cherry-pick who is an essential employee, who they want to fire, and what agencies they want to shutter. And a shutdown would force federal courts to slow work on lawsuits against this administration’s illegal actions,” Cortez Masto said. “The last government shutdown cost the American economy $11 billion, and thousands of hardworking Americans were harmed. I cannot vote for that.”
“This was not an easy decision. I’m outraged by the reckless actions of President Trump, Elon Musk, and Republicans in control of Congress, so I refuse to hand them a shutdown where they would have free reign to cause more chaos and harm,” she added, saying she would continue to support lawsuits pushing back on Trump and Musk’s actions.
SWING-STATE DEMOCRATS OPPOSE GOP FUNDING BILL DESPITE SENATE LEADERSHIP APPROVAL
Dozens of Senate Democrats have publicly said they will not support the cloture vote, but some have not publicly said how they will vote on Friday. With the House in recess until March 24, the House-passed stopgap is the only option to avoid a shutdown before government funding lapses at the end of Friday.
The House voted for the spending bill on Tuesday, with all but one Republican voting for the legislation and all but one Democrat opposing the bill.