7 Republican Senators Join Democrats To Block Funding Package

Several Republican senators joined Democrats to block a six-bill funding package to avoid a partial government shutdown past Friday.

Previously, Senate Democrats vowed to “oppose a funding package that includes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security.”

Another Government Shutdown On The Horizon?

The seven GOP lawmakers opposed to the funding package include:

• Sen. Ted Budd (NC)
• Sen. Ron Johnson (WI)
• Sen. Mike Lee (UT)
• Sen. Ashley Moody (FL)
• Sen. Rand Paul (KY)
• Sen. Rick Scott (FL)
• Sen. Tommy Tuberville (AL)

🔥🚨BREAKING: 7 Republicans voted with Democrats to NOT fund the government. They were identified as:

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL)
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) pic.twitter.com/5nfKUyoiPN

— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) January 29, 2026

Fox News has more:

Senate Democrats are willing to support the five other bills in the package, however, and have reiterated that bundle would easily pass if given the chance.

"Democrats are ready to avert a shutdown," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"We have five bills we all agree on. About 95% of the remaining budget. It is ready to go," she continued. "We can pass those five bills, no problem. All Leader Thune has to do is tee them up for a vote."

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., sought to call their bluff and barreled forward with the key test vote, which would have opened up several hours of debate and eventually a final vote to send the package to President Donald Trump's desk.

Ahead of the vote, Thune said he hoped that conversations between the White House and Senate Democrats would produce the "the votes that are necessary to get it passed."

Thune threw cold water on Senate Democrats' several demands for reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) making their way into the current package, too.

Paul said he was opposed to the funding package simply because the government spends too much money.

“Most of the spending levels have come back either at last year’s level or above. Last year we had a deficit of about $1.8 [trillion], $1.9 trillion. If you vote for these levels, it’s sort of a belief that you think what we’re spending is OK,” he said, according to The Hill.

"Sen Thune also switched his voted NO but that is just a procedural mechanism that will allow him to bring this vote back up at a future time/date. All Dems voted no," Fox News reporter Kelly Phares said.

"Conversations between Dems and the WH continue behind the scenes on the path forward... but the number of GOP no votes indicates some rank and file Republicans are not happy with the status of talks and the prospect that DHS funding could be broken off from the other bills," she added.

BREAKING: The Senate procedural vote on government funding FAILED — final vote 45-55.

Per @FoxNews colleague @kellyfphares:

“7 Republicans voted no -- Sen Johnson (R-WI), Sen Tuberville (R-AL), Sen Lee (R-UT), Sen Budd (R-NC), Sen Paul (R-KY), Sen Moody (R-FL), Sen Rick Scott…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 29, 2026

The Hill noted:

Scott said he opposes Democratic demands to pull funding for the Department of Homeland Security out of the funding package after Democrats negotiated a variety of spending victories for their own side.

He also pointed to what he called wasteful spending in the package.

“I don’t like the bill. I don’t like the six-bill package because it doesn’t balance the budget and it’s got all this wasteful spending through all these earmarks,” he said.

“Now, they’re talking about proceeding to cut out the ICE portion of the funding. I don’t support that, I support ICE. I think it’s crazy that at the last minute Democrats think they can dictate and shut down the [Homeland Security] funding,” Scott said, using an abbreviation for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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“They want all their wasteful spending, they don’t want to balance the budget. Then they don’t want to fund the thing they caused. … They allowed all these criminals into our country and now ICE is doing their job, and [Democrats] don’t want to fund it,” he said.

Any thoughts on this?