Lawmakers Fail To End Second Longest Shutdown In History

The Senate failed to end the partial government shutdown on Friday as Democrats — for the second time in less than a year — continue to withhold their votes to reopen the government over a policy dispute.

The upper chamber, plagued by attendance issues, fell short of the 60-vote threshold in a 47-37 vote on the 35th day of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, leaving Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees without pay during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. The vote took place during a break in debate over the SAVE America Act which has been ongoing since Tuesday and will stretch into the weekend.

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the lone Democrat to cross the aisle in favor of reopening the government — a stance he has held since the beginning of the partial shutdown. In addition to the TSA, the standoff has also rattled other agencies operating under DHS such as the Coast Guard, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The rest of Fetterman’s party has remained united in voting down opportunities to fund the entire department until their demanded sweeping reforms to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are agreed upon. They also happen to be the only two agencies within the department that are funded due to the GOP-backed One Big, Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) passage in July.