The Senate on Wednesday, the first day of a government closure, once again failed to approve bills aimed at financing the Government as Congress leaders continue to change by closing.
The Senate had two votes on the financing law that reflected the failed votes they took on Tuesday, which resulted in a government closure that entered into force at 12:01 AM on Wednesday. Both failed, which turned out that the closure of the government continues.
A closed sign is in front of the national archives the first day of a government closure, on October 1, 2025, in Washington.
Julia DeMaree Nikhinson/AP
The first vote was, once again, a procedural vote on the government’s financing proposal of the Democrats that includes the medical care provisions they have been looking for. He failed by a vote of 47-53. As was the case on Tuesday night, each Democrat voted for him and all the Republicans voted against.
The second vote of the series was a procedural vote on the Financing Bill of Republican Stop clean and supported by the house that failed on Tuesday night. The Democrats continued to maintain the line during Wednesday’s vote, which led to fail with a 55-45 vote.
Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as the Independent Angus King, voted, as they did on Tuesday, with the Republicans to advance the financing solution of the Republican Party. But there are no additional democrats to break ranges during the series of votes. Republican senator Rand Paul voted no, so the Republicans would have needed to collect at least five more Democrats to advance this bill, who needed 60 votes to approve.
The leader of the majority, John Thune, said the Republicans are looking for those few additional Democrats to support their draft clean financing and short term.
In the comments of the floor before Wednesday’s votes, both leaders opened to blame the other party.
“Here we are, the Democrats have inclined to the far left and have closed the federal government,” Thune said on the floor. “As of this morning, critical federal employees, including Army members, border patrol agents and air traffic controlle are working without pay and several government services are not available or are at risk.”
Meanwhile, the minority leader Chuck Schumer said that “Donald Trump and Republicans have accelerated us because they refuse to protect the medical care of the United States.”
Schumer, in his speech, said that Republicans will not be able to “intimidate” the Democrats to renounce their demands that medical care is addressed as part of government financing.
At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Thune said that the Democrats “have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think politically benefit them, as a result of the cost of what will happen to US families if this closure of the government continues.”
The leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, speaks during a press conference with the republican leadership of Congress outside the United States Capitol on the first day of the closing of the United States government in Washington, on October 1, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Images
The speaker Mike Johnson criticized the Democrats during the press conference on Wednesday morning.
“Every part of this was completely avoidable,” said Johnson, added that the Democrats should approve the clean CR as they did in the camera.
“Democrats in Congress have dragged our country to another reckless closure to satisfy their extreme left base,” Johnson said. “If the government remains open or reopened or does not depend completely on them.”
The president of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, speaks at a press conference with the republican leadership of Congress outside the United States Capitol on the first day of the United States government closure in Washington, on October 1, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
The Democrats responded during their own press conference on Wednesday morning.
“Republicans control the Senate, the Chamber and the White House. They need democratic votes to finance the government, so it depends on them to talk to us,” said the vice president of the democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives, Pete Aguilar.
The representative of the Democratic President of the House of Representatives, Pete Aguilar, and the representative Ted Lieu, talk to journalists after a Caucus meeting at the Visitors Center of the United States Capitol on October 1, 2025 in Washington.
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On Tuesday, Schumer He urged Republicans to come to the negotiating table.
“Then, we want to sit and negotiate, but the Republicans cannot do so in their partisan form, where they simply say ‘is our road or the road'”, “ Schumer He reiterated at a press conference after the votes of the Senate on Tuesday night.
The senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, talks to the members of the media during a press conference, after the weekly policy lunch of the Senate Democrats in Capitol Hill in Washington, on September 30, 2025.
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Schumer He retreated the failed votes on the Senate’s floor, contributing the guilt to the Republicans who “have failed to obtain enough votes to avoid a closure.”
The Senate is expected to take votes on other matters in the afternoon and then they are expected to go to Yom Kippur. Although things could always change if some kind of treatment is reached. The Senate is not expected to celebrate any additional vote on government financing until Friday as very early, almost ensuring that this closure extends to at least until Friday.
Lauren Peller of ABC News and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.
