The Senate moved forward Monday evening on a crucial measure to avoid a government shutdown, passing the first procedural hurdle for a $174 billion three-bill funding package. While this represents progress, lawmakers face a narrowing window to fully fund the government before the January 30 deadline.

The funding package, which sailed through the House last week with bipartisan support, received similar backing in the Senate’s test vote—a clear indication that neither party has appetite for another government shutdown so soon after the nation experienced its longest closure in history.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer highlighted the Democrats’ commitment to funding, telling ABC on Sunday: “Democrats want to fund the appropriations, the spending bills, all the way through 2026.” He noted that Democrats are not seeking another shutdown and emphasized ongoing bipartisan cooperation on budget matters.

“We want to work in a bicameral, bipartisan way to do it and the good news is our Republican appropriators are working with us,” Schumer said.

Despite this progress, the successful procedural vote doesn’t eliminate the shutdown threat entirely. Legislators must still fund the remainder of the government by the end-of-month deadline, and there are growing doubts among senators about completing this task in time.

Senator John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, expressed certainty that a short-term funding bill—known as a continuing resolution (CR)—will be necessary. “Of course there’s gonna be a short-term CR,” Kennedy stated. “There’s gonna be a CR, it’s just a question of how big is the CR going to be?”

The current funding package would bring lawmakers to the halfway mark of the twelve appropriations bills needed to keep the government fully operational. A smaller $77 billion two-bill package covering Financial Services and National Security is expected to move through the House soon, but even this won’t be enough to prevent a shutdown.

Notably absent from the smaller package is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill, which was initially expected to be included. The DHS funding bill typically presents significant challenges for lawmakers and often becomes a focal point for political disagreements.

“The DHS bill is always one of the most difficult ones,” acknowledged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “And creates more, seems like more of a kind of a political conflict of all the appropriations bills.”

Political tensions around the DHS bill intensified following the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minnesota. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, argued that the incident “has crystallized for the American people the real danger that exists out there in the way that ICE and [Customs and Border Protection] are operating.”

Murphy indicated he would push for constraints in the DHS funding bill, including enhanced training for officers. “I understand we have to get Republican votes,” Murphy said. “So I’m not proposing we fix this overnight, but I think it should be clear to Republicans that if they want Democratic votes for a DHS appropriations bill, they’re going to have to work with us on our concerns. That’s how the Senate works.”

The funding challenges come at a particularly sensitive time, as both parties are mindful of avoiding government disruptions during an election year. The last major government shutdown, which ended in early 2019, lasted 35 days and caused significant disruption to federal services and employee paychecks.

As the January 30 deadline approaches, the pressure increases on congressional leaders to either complete all necessary funding legislation or negotiate the terms of a continuing resolution that would temporarily extend government funding while broader appropriations discussions continue. With several appropriations bills still needing approval, the likelihood of at least a short-term extension grows with each passing day.