Two Senate Democrats from the same state, who say they are fighting for the same things, have now voted nine times in opposite directions on whether to reopen the government.
Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, two Nevadans who’ve voted for and against reopening the government, respectively, represent a split in the Democratic Party over the shutdown — which now seems like it will certainly stretch into a fourth week.
The two women say it’s a disagreement on the means, not the ends.
“She’s just chosen a different route to get to the same outcome, and so I respect her decision,” Rosen told NOTUS. “She can talk about how she came to that. She’s a champion for Nevadans and fighting for their health care.”
Rosen added: “I respect that, but for me, I want to bring attention to all these folks, to bring them to the table.”
Only three members of the Senate Democratic Caucus have voted in favor of the GOP-led continuing resolution. Of those three, two come from states where their fellow senator is a Republican: Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who represents Pennsylvania with Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, and independent Sen. Angus King, who represents Maine alongside Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Only one of that trio — Cortez Masto — comes from a state where her fellow senator is a Democrat. She and Rosen are in lockstep on almost everything in Congress, but not this.
“We have differences on tactically how to achieve certain things,” Cortez Masto told NOTUS. “But our ultimate goal as a party is the same. And Jacky and I are just the same.”
In explaining their own sides, much of their reasoning overlaps. The two women have the same constituents and were elected to the Senate just two years apart. They’re worried about people’s pocketbooks, their well being, their families, and so on. They both say they care about workers — Nevada doesn’t have an outsized population of federal employees, but it does have many union workers who rely on federal contracts.
But Cortez Masto and Rosen have formed differing conclusions on the best route forward. Cortez Masto says the cost of a shutdown was too steep to ignore, and that lawmakers should reopen the government and negotiate on health care in tandem. She also voted for a funding bill to avoid a shutdown in March — though she was joined then by several more Democrats (Rosen voted against that bill).
“I just feel very strongly, a government shutdown, it costs money,” Cortez Masto said. “I wanted to avoid a costly shutdown, but I also would be hurting hardworking Nevadans, and at the same time, handing more power to this administration. I didn’t want to do that.”
“I just think that we could keep the government open and still work to address health care in a bipartisan way,” She added. “I don’t believe in swapping the pain of one group of Americans for another.”
Rosen, meanwhile, insists Democrats should hold the line until they receive assurances on health care. She says she wasn’t sent to Congress “to cave.”
“People are going to die because they don’t have insurance, and they just are afraid to go to the doctor because they don’t want to be bankrupt,” Rosen said. “This is a hill worth standing on top of … If you don’t have your health, what do you have?”
Rosen and Cortez Masto aren’t alone in their differences. The disagreement on how to move forward is playing out widely in the Democratic Party, with people both in and outside of the Capitol holding plenty differing opinions. Polling on the issue is a cherry picker’s dream.
One poll finds few people think the shutdown is worth it, another says the blame is being spread almost equally. Another says Americans look favorably at Democrats’ efforts on health care by four points, and another says blame for the shutdown on Democrats is going up. Yet another says 58 percent of Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown, but also 54 percent of Americans blame Democrats.
Still, the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the Senate — like Rosen — are voting against reopening. But in Congress, there are often other factors at play, like lawmakers being subject to caucus politics, voting numbers, and broader strategy sessions that count on members sticking together.
What’s more, the Democratic Party writ large has been working to find its footing after a disastrous 2024 that left them looking lost and divided. There’s been an emphasis this year on rebuilding and coalescing around a joint message.
But that united front is also a means to avoid a jailbreak. Every Senate Democrat has voted the same way on the continuing resolution since the shutdown began. Many Capitol Hill denizens believe if even one or two more Democrats change their votes, others will follow and the end of the shutdown will be swift.
Republican lawmakers thought those dominoes would fall quickly — but three weeks into the shutdown Democrats are holding firm. Democrats’ say that’s due to the conviction of their cause. After all, they say Republicans have been underestimating them all this time. Rosen has lambasted GOP leadership for not engaging in talks and listening “to one person and one person only, and it’s Donald Trump.”
And even those voting for the bill, like Cortez Masto, say they still want Republicans to come to the negotiating table. She called GOP leadership and the White House’s approach “frustrating.”
Many Democrats argue, however, that by voting for the bill, Democrats would be giving up their leverage to force negotiations on health care. Cortez Masto said that the “the goal here is to do both” and to “open the government, move forward, do the appropriations, but fix this Affordable Care Act of issue for so many Americans.”
Cortez Masto also claims to be in active talks with her fellow “group” of senators on both sides of the aisle to “come up with solutions and ideas to break this impasse.” She’s optimistic those talks will bear fruit, but declined to share any further details.
In the meantime, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has continued to file cloture motions that will tee up additional votes on the same continuing resolution next week. He says Democrats should expect that to continue, over and over, until they’re ready to change.
Senate Democratic leadership, however, insists there’s no ill will to those declining to hold the line.
“We respect them for the judgment they made,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin told NOTUS of Cortez Masto and the other Democrats who’ve voted against a shutdown. “They’ve expressed some misgivings about the current situation and whether they want to continue. But that’s a personal matter.”