Democrats tank bipartisan bill to fund DOD in midst of government shutdown

In an act of defiance, Democratic senators blocked the House-passed full-year funding bill for the Department of Defense from advancing Thursday.

The procedural vote on one of the 12 annual appropriations bills to properly fund the government in fiscal year 2026 failed despite Republican leaders bringing it to the floor to remedy some of the worst effects of the ongoing government shutdown.

The bill would have authorized funding for the DOD and its employees’ salaries, as well as restore pay for military service members won’t see their next paycheck if the shutdown drags on. The Pentagon has already dipped into untapped research and development funds in order to subsidize Oct. 15 paychecks.

Democratic leaders reasoned that advancing the bill would take away some of their leverage in shutdown negotiations. Senate Democrats have blocked Republicans’ Continuing Resolution to reopen and temporarily fund the federal government ten times already, demanding GOP leaders vow to renew the expanded Obamacare Premium Tax Credits.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has already promised to bring a bill extending the subsidies to the Senate floor in exchange for votes to open the government, but said it is impossible for him to guarantee it will pass.

“We offered to accommodate their health care demands by guaranteeing them a vote on their proposal if they vote to reopen the government. The answer [was] no,” Thune vented Thursday. “So we thought, if they don’t want to fund the government via a Continuing Resolution, we’ll give them the chance to fund the government a different way by attempting to move forward with regular order appropriations bills. And once again, the answer was no.”

He added, “if anything was needed to demonstrate just how fundamentally uninterested Democrats are in supporting our troops and defending our country, just take a look at this vote.”

Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., were the only Democrats to vote for the bill. 

Ever since Senate Democrats first blocked Republicans’ CR on Sept. 30, leading to the current government shutdown, the U.S. economy has lost an estimated $15 billion per day. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed, and thousands more are working without pay.

With senators now going home for the weekend, the government will remain closed for at least 20 days. The longest the U.S. government ever remained shuttered was 35 days.