On Friday evening, the Senate passed 54-46 the FY25 Continuing Resolution, which would fund nearly all federal programs, including education programs, at last year’s spending levels. $202 million reserved for higher education earmarks were cut in this final legislation. Since the House has already passed this measure, it will now go to the President, who has stated previously that he will sign it into law.
This final vote follows a nail-biting cloture vote to end debate, which required a 60 vote majority and passed only with Democratic help. In that cloture vote, 10 Democratic Senators (Cortez-Masto, Durbin, Fetterman, Gillibrand, Hassan, King, Peters, Schatz, Schumer and Shaheen) joined with 52 Republican Senators to invoke cloture.
 While the passage of this bill prevents a federal government shutdown, which would have occurred at 12:01 AM on Saturday without its passage, other questions remain. Democrats remain extremely concerned that the Administration will not abide by the terms of this Continuing Resolution and attempt to shift funds between accounts or impound some dollars to prevent them from flowing to intended beneficiaries.Â
Additionally, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who announced yesterday that he would vote in support of cloture, may now find himself in political peril with his own party. House Democratic leadership and even members of the Senate Democratic Caucus lambasted his decision, declaring that it amounted to a capitulation to President Trump at a time where they thought he should be standing up to him and fighting back.
Looking ahead, Congress will begin work on FY26 funding as early as April and a target completion date of October 1st, when the new federal fiscal year begins. However, Congress may very well again find itself at loggerheads on overall federal spending and spending on individual language education programs for the next federal fiscal year, which could again lead to either new continuing resolutions or a government shutdown on October 1st.