A short note to show you who's who.
On Friday Democratic senators gave Trump and Musk permission to continue their onslaught against the government, by voting for the Continuing Resolution — mischaracterized as a "short term spending bill" — that kept the government from shutting down. In fact, the bill does much more, codifying much of Trump's illegality into law.
The final bill passed 54-46, with only Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, who is retiring, voting with Republicans.
The Cloture Vote
The time to stop bill this was at the Cloture vote (the vote to close debate), when 60 Yeses were needed. Since there are only 53 senators in the Republican caucus, that meant 7 Democrats at least had to vote Yes. (A bill that doesn't pass Cloture dies at that point.)
The Republicans got 62 Yes votes — including 9 Democrats — to join Republicans to clear that hurdle. Here are the Democratic Yes votes on Cloture:
Catherine Cortez Masto (NV)
Dick Durbin (IL)
John Fetterman (PA)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Maggie Hassan (NH)
Gary Peters (MI)
Brian Schatz (HI)
Chuck Schumer (NY)
Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
Of these, Durbin, Peters and Shaheen have announced retirement and will not face voters again. None of the rest are up for election in 2026.
Is the House outrage real? A week ago Jeffries was like "Poor helpless us." Now its "Curse those wimpy Senators!"
That's quite a change in gears.