Senate Majority Leader John Thune is looking to back Democrats into a corner by bringing a full-year Pentagon funding bill to the Senate floor on Thursday.
In doing so, Thune aims to force Democrats to take action — and perhaps move toward an end to Washington’s weeks of paralysis — as a government shutdown stretches into its third week with no end in sight.
Thune’s move marks a deliberate escalation by Senate Republicans, who hope to break the stalemate by daring Democrats to vote against military funding.
The maneuver puts Democrats under fresh pressure.
They’ve been nearly unanimous in opposing GOP efforts to pass what they call a “clean” short-term resolution to reopen the government.
Thune’s push for a full-year defense vote puts Democrats in a bind.
If they support it, they risk undercutting their shutdown strategy by funding the military separately and losing leverage for a broader deal.
If they oppose it, Republicans can accuse them of blocking military pay and national security funding.
The bill’s bipartisan pedigree — it cleared committee earlier this year by a 26–3 vote — makes it harder for Democrats to justify a “no” vote without appearing obstructionist.
In short, Thune is trying to force Democrats to either break ranks or take the blame for prolonging the shutdown.
The Senate has now rejected the House-passed stopgap nine times, including once on Wednesday, with another vote expected Thursday.
Democrats insist they won’t move forward without broader assurances on health care, domestic spending, and social programs — priorities they say Republicans are trying to erode.
Thune told The Hill that Democrats can’t claim to want a “normal appropriations process” while blocking a bill that embodies one.
“It seems like it’s a hard vote,” he said, “because they all say they want a normal appropriations process, and we’re trying to give them one.
"I get it — it’s in the middle of a shutdown, which is a complicating dynamic here.”
The Pentagon bill would fund the Department of War for the full year, ensuring paychecks for troops and maintaining key national security programs.
Thune said Republicans need to “get the appropriations process going” even as Democrats continue voting to “keep the government shut down.”
Democrats, meanwhile, are skeptical.
They say Republicans haven’t guaranteed that partisan measures won’t be tacked onto the defense bill later.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are waiting to see what Republicans attach.
“We do not know what they’re going to offer yet,” he said.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic appropriator, agreed. “Let’s see what they do tomorrow,” she said.
Republicans are also weighing whether to bundle the Pentagon measure with other funding bills — a move designed both to appeal to moderates and to test Democratic unity.
Among those under discussion are the Labor and Health and Human Services bill and the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs Appropriations, said she hopes to combine those with additional funding for Commerce, Justice, and science agencies.
She said the goal is to move as many bipartisan bills as possible while Democrats continue blocking short-term funding.
Democrats remain wary. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said Republicans have offered “no hint of bipartisan cooperation or any willingness to put any guardrails around what they plan to do.” He added, “There’s no reason to vote for it yet.”
Some Democrats who back full-year appropriations are still holding the line. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said she wants to see the final package before committing her vote. “If we have a commitment to move forward with appropriations, it helps us,” she said.
Republicans see an opening. If Democrats block the defense bill, they can be accused of denying pay for U.S. troops just weeks before the next payday. The Trump administration said Wednesday it would use $8 billion in unused research and development funds to cover military salaries for now, but warned the stopgap won’t last.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Hill he won’t bring the House back until the government reopens, saying he doubts the Senate will pass Thune’s measure. “My suspicion is the Democrats are going to play their same political games and stop that cold,” he said. “I hope I’m surprised by that.”
Thune’s allies call the bill as bipartisan as they come. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming noted its 26–3 committee vote and said Democrats should back it again. “You don’t think you can bring a bill out of committee that passed 26 to 3 and the Democrats are going to change their mind?” he said.
The Senate is also expected to take up a measure allowing negotiators to meet with the House on a three-bill “minibus” that passed earlier this year. Republicans hope that move shows progress even amid the shutdown.
Still, the standoff shows no signs of easing. Democrats want assurances Republicans won’t slip conservative riders into must-pass bills, while Republicans insist it’s time to act on defense and other core spending.
For Thune, the vote is both practical and political — a chance to show Republicans are governing and to shift blame for the impasse. By putting a bipartisan defense bill on the floor, he’s betting Democrats will either fracture over military pay or face backlash for opposing it.
Either way, the fight underscores Washington’s deep divide as the shutdown enters its third week — with both parties dug in, the stakes rising, and little sign of a breakthrough.
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