OAN Staff Blake Wolf
1:19 PM – Wednesday, October 8, 2025
The U.S. Senate failed for the sixth time to pass a stopgap bill to end the government shutdown on Wednesday, which has now entered its second week.
The passage of the continuing resolution (CR), which was previously passed in the House, failed by a vote of 54-45 — just six votes shy of the required 60-vote threshold.
The latest vote highlights that Senate Democrats continue to insist on protracted negotiations, while Republicans argue the Senate should first pass a straightforward “clean” CR and only negotiate once the government is reopened.
Following the shut down on Wednesday, October 1st, the White House issued a press release, asserting that “Democrats shut down government over free healthcare for illegals.” In the release, the White House shared a document showcasing the Democrats’ proposal, which would “result in nearly $200 billion spent on healthcare for illegal immigrants and other non-citizens over the next decade — enough to fund the entire Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
Senate Democrats like Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Angus King (D-Maine), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted with Republicans to advance the bill, while Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted against the measure. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) did not vote on Wednesday.
King announced that he will be continually voting in favor of the GOP CR, explaining that “the power that the president and [White House Office of Management and Budget] and [Russ] Vought and [Stephen] Miller are exercising under the shutdown is a real threat to our country, so I’m going to continue to try to end the shutdown.”
“I’d very much like to get this [Affordable Care Act] thing resolved,” King continued, referencing the Democrats’ push to extend expiring subsidies. “I think that’s important, I think it can be, I think it should be. Republicans should step up and help us do that. But in the end we got to get this shutdown over because I think the worst is yet to come.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) responded to Wednesday’s failed vote as well.
“I know this story’s getting old. You’re trying to find new angles, but it’s the same [thing] — the conversation will happen when we open up the government.”
“Nothing’s changed,” Thune added.
Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a statement where he further blamed President Donald Trump and the Republican Party for refusing to negotiate healthcare changes.
“The government is shut down for one reason and one reason only: Donald Trump and the Republicans would rather kick 15 million people off health insurance and raise premiums by thousands and thousands of dollars a year on tens of millions of Americans, rather than sit down and work with Democrats on fixing healthcare,” Schumer stated.
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