A pair of Senate Democrats from a key battleground state on Thursday said that they would vote against the GOP’s six-month spending bill, raising questions about the possibility of a government shutdown when funding expires on Friday.
Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly (D) and Ruben Gallego (D) said they will oppose both the spending bill itself and a procedural motion to advance the measure, which requires 60 votes.
“I cannot vote for the Republican plan to give unchecked power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Kelly said in a statement. “I told Arizonans I’d stand up when it was right for our state and our country, and this is one of those moments.”
Gallego echoed that sentiment, which has emerged as one of the main Democratic concerns.
”This is a bad resolution that gives Elon Musk and his cronies permission to continue cutting veterans’ benefits, slashes resources for Arizona’s water needs and abandons our wildland firefighters,” Gallego said in a statement. “I can’t stand by that, and that’s why I’m voting no.”
“We must come together to pass a bipartisan solution — I’m committed to putting in the work to do that — but this resolution is a grab bag of extreme policies that harms Arizona families,” Gallego added.
The pair of Democrats from a key swing state were widely considered prime targets for Republicans, who need eight members of the minority party to join with them to advance the partisan spending measure.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is the lone member to definitively say they would vote in favor.
Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) all also said they are against it, further winnowing possible “yes” votes.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday had privately indicated they would not let the government shut down as long as they first got a vote on a 30-day spending bill. Whether that remains a possibility is unclear.
