On Friday, the GOP-led Senate passed a stopgap bill to stave off a partial government shutdown at the stroke of midnight, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump to sign into law after Democrats gave up their last chance to block it.
The final vote was 54-46 with Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Angus King (R-ME) joining with all but one Republican in supporting the measure. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the sole Republican to band with the rest of the Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in opposing the bill.
A simple majority was all that was needed for final passage. There was more drama earlier with a vote to invoke cloture, which required a three-fifths majority — or 60 votes — to prevail. That did happen via a 62-38 vote earlier on Friday after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he would not vote for a shutdown and stirred up some blowback from members of his…
