U.S. Senate blocks budget bill as government shutdown looms

Washington.- The U.S. Senate voted this Thursday against a budget bill, in a move to pressure changes in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), following the murder of two civilians during the deployment of migration agents in Minneapolis. All Democrats in the Senate and seven Republican lawmakers voted against the budget, which needs 60 favorable votes, bringing the country closer to a partial government shutdown that would leave several agencies without money, including the Pentagon and the Department of Health.

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The rejection of the budget occurs in parallel with a round of negotiations between the leaders of the Senate and the White House to pass a separate funding package for DHS, which would allow them to approve reforms to the agency, including prohibiting ICE agents from using balaclavas to cover their faces and forcing them to use portable body cameras that record their operations. The vote to reject the budget came hours after Trump stated this Thursday that he is “close” to reaching an agreement with the Democrats and that he does not believe the federal government will fall into a new shutdown, after last year’s record shutdown. “I don’t think the Democrats want a shutdown either, so we will work in a bipartisan way to avoid it. Hopefully, there won’t be a government shutdown. We are working on that right now,” explained U.S. President Donald Trump at the cabinet meeting held today at the White House. The U.S. faces its second government shutdown, following the longest in its history which lasted 43 days between October 1 and November 12, 2025.