Senate Democrats on Thursday voted down a defense appropriations bill that would have ensured continued pay for U.S. service members during the ongoing government shutdown, marking the latest flashpoint in a deepening standoff over federal spending priorities.
The legislation, which had bipartisan backing, failed to advance after falling short of the 60 votes required to break a Senate filibuster. The final tally was 50–44, with Democrats largely united in opposition.
The rejection came on the same day Senate Democrats voted for the tenth time against measures to reopen the federal government, maintaining their insistence that any deal must include expanded healthcare funding—particularly provisions benefiting undocumented immigrants.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing the defense budget, defended his decision to oppose his own bill. Speaking to Politico, Coons said the broader issue of protecting access to healthcare must take precedence over passing a single spending measure.
“I won’t vote just for the defense appropriations bill, even though that’s my bill,” Coons said. “The path out of this shutdown is meaningful negotiations… so that millions of Americans aren’t thrown off their health care in the next 10 days.”
The move drew sharp criticism from Republicans, who accused Democrats of holding military families hostage to political demands. With no resolution in sight, the impasse threatens to prolong the shutdown and deepen its impact on both the armed forces and federal employees across the country.
.@SpeakerJohnson: “Yesterday the Senate Democrats took it a step further. They REJECTED a stand alone bill to fund our nation’s defense and PAY our troops. They voted it down.
Now they are on record specifically, exclusively to BLOCK the paychecks of the troops.” pic.twitter.com/WP8Tli3eVn
— Edgar A Barrios (@Edgar_A_Barrios) October 17, 2025
Three Democratic senators broke ranks with their party to support funding for the military, joining Republicans in backing the defense spending measure. The group included Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
In a statement released after the vote, Fetterman said his decision was guided by concern for service members and their families. “I voted YES to start considering the House’s defense spending bill because I believe the men and women in our military, who put their lives at risk for our country, should not have to worry about their paycheck coming through,” he said.
Fetterman added that he would “continue to vote to end this shutdown and reopen our federal government so all workers can move on from this chaos.”
The Pennsylvania senator later reiterated his stance on social media, posting, “Our country and servicemembers over party.”
My YES was because our military deserves to be paid.
I fully support extending the ACA tax credits, but the government must be open.
Our country and servicemembers over party. pic.twitter.com/zW9Vy52JEu
— U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) October 16, 2025
President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed a reallocation of War Department funds to ensure that U.S. military personnel continued to receive their pay as the government shutdown stretched into its third week.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have tied their votes to reopen the government to a key policy demand: extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that he had offered Democrats a standalone vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies in exchange for their support to end the shutdown and resume government operations.
Fox News host John Roberts noted that Democrats themselves had previously voted to let those enhanced subsidies expire at the end of 2025, as stipulated in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
President Trump and Republicans want the government reopened immediately.
Federal workers are missing paychecks, flights are being delayed and canceled, and our economy may be hurting because the Democrats want the government to stay shut down.
They are completely reckless. pic.twitter.com/D2z8ZqclWV
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) October 16, 2025
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt urged Democrats on Thursday to break ranks with the party’s progressive wing and help end the government shutdown, telling Fox News, “We hope every day that sensible Democrats with just a little bit of courage to stand against Bernie Sanders and [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]… stand against the radical nonsense and vote to reopen the government, and then we can have serious conversations about healthcare, about immigration, and about our economy.”
Along with demanding an extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, Democrats are also pushing for revisions to Medicaid eligibility in the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed in July — changes that would allow illegal immigrants to receive benefits. Republicans have sharply criticized the proposal, estimating that the cost of providing healthcare coverage to those in the country illegally would approach $200 billion.
According to a Fox News report, Republicans contend that millions of individuals who entered the U.S. illegally were improperly granted at least temporary legal status under former President Joe Biden, and therefore should not qualify for benefits intended for legal immigrants.
“Illegal aliens can’t get Medicaid, but that has only been true since July 4, and the reason that is a true statement is because we passed it into law and all the Democrats voted against it,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News earlier this month. “So they want to reverse what we did. I mean, that’s just plain and simple.”
“What we’re trying to do is strengthen Medicaid,” Johnson added. “And one of the very important things we had to do is make sure that the more than 1 million illegal aliens who were collecting that were not allowed on the program.”