Sen. Cortez Masto explains why she broke ranks with democrats on shutdown vote

By Scott Detrow,

Elena Burnett, John Ketchum

Published October 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM EDT

Three Senate Democrats broke with their party and voted with Republicans to fund the government and avert a shut down. One of them, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, explains her reasoning.

Scott Detrow

Scott Detrow is a White House correspondent for NPR and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.

See stories by Scott Detrow

Elena Burnett

See stories by Elena Burnett

John Ketchum

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