Which members of Congress voted to cause the current government shutdown in 2024?

Executive Summary: A House spending measure that would have averted the 2024 shutdown was defeated on December 19, 2024, by a 174–235 vote, with 38 House Republicans voting against the bill and thus directly contributing to the shutdown; Representative Chip Roy is publicly identified among those who voted no ^[1]. The Senate was also gridlocked earlier over a separate stopgap tied to extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, where a small cohort of Democratic senators (including Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan and Tim Kaine) signaled willingness to advance a compromise that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer opposed ^{[2] [3]}. Public reporting and the sources provided document the broad actors and fault lines but do not supply a single, complete roll-call list of the specific members whose votes triggered the shutdown in every chamber. This analysis synthesizes the available reporting, highlights missing public data, and points to where complete voting records must be consulted.

1. House defeat named the immediate culprits but gave only partial identities The decisive procedural event cited in reporting is the House rejection of the Trump-backed spending deal on December 19, 2024, which failed by 174–235 and included 38 Republican no votes whose opposition let the shutdown proceed ^[1]. Reuters explicitly names Representative Chip Roy as one of the 38 Republicans who voted against the measure, and it characterizes the bloc as aligned with hardline conservatives and Freedom Caucus priorities. The reporting establishes the aggregate arithmetic and at least one identified member, making clear that the shutdown’s proximate cause in the House was the coalition of those who rejected the spending package; it does not, however, supply a full roll-call roster in the cited extract. For a definitive list of every member who voted to reject the bill, consult the House roll-call for Dec. 19, 2024.

2. Broader House factionalism and historical precedents explain the No votes The 2024 funding fights were shaped by intra-party insurgency and longstanding Freedom Caucus leverage over appropriations, as previous budget fights in the cycle saw many Republicans oppose bipartisan compromises—for example, 71 Republicans opposed the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023—and ongoing demands for border policy changes ^[4]. That history frames why a segment of Republicans would oppose a spending bill offered by party leadership: ideological and tactical resistance to deals that lack their priorities, especially border enforcement measures. The sources show this pattern repeated across 2023–2024 negotiation cycles, with temporary continuing resolutions and holdouts forcing repeated last‑minute votes; the December 19 vote is the latest manifestation of that persistent intra‑GOP dynamic ^{[4] [1]}.

3. Senate standoff over ACA subsidies created parallel pathways to shutdown risk Separately, the Senate stalemate that contributed to shutdown risk revolved around enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits and whether a deal would guarantee their extension, a point of contention between many Democrats and Republicans ^[3]. Reporting identifies a small group of moderate Democratic senators—Jeanne Shaheen, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine—who agreed to advance a compromise that would fund the government short‑term and secure a December vote on a subsidy extension, while Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and most Democratic colleagues opposed advancing the deal because it did not lock in the subsidies ^{[2] [3]}. That division among Democrats shows that shutdown exposure was not solely a Republican phenomenon in the upper chamber; intra‑party disagreements over policy tradeoffs also played a decisive role.

4. Policy flashpoints drove votes more than personal vendettas; watch for strategic signaling The available reporting ties votes to concrete policy demands—ACA subsidies and border measures—rather than to unexplained obstruction. Freedom Caucus and like‑minded Republicans consistently sought border and enforcement provisions, rejecting continuing resolutions that lacked those terms ^[4]. Moderate Democrats were willing to back short‑term funding if it preserved the prospect of a future ACA fix, while Democratic leadership resisted moves that left beneficiaries uncertain. These policy-driven calculations explain why both chambers saw cross‑cutting splits: members traded immediate funding stability for long‑term policy priorities. Observers should note that public statements and vote explanations often serve as strategic signaling to primary constituencies or negotiating partners, and that those signals help interpret why certain members chose “no” votes even when a shutdown risk was immediate.

5. What is confirmed, what remains uncertain, and where to find the full roll call The confirmed facts in the sources are clear: the House vote of Dec. 19, 2024 failed 174–235 with 38 Republicans rejecting the measure and Representative Chip Roy named among them, and the Senate experienced a separate stalemate over ACA subsidies with a handful of Democrats prepared to advance a compromise that leadership opposed ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The unresolved gap is a single, compiled roll‑call list of every member whose votes directly produced the shutdown across both chambers; the cited articles provide aggregates and illustrative names but not a comprehensive list. To obtain the complete, definitive names: consult the House Journal and roll‑call for Dec. 19, 2024, the official House clerk vote record, and the Senate’s roll‑call and cloture votes around the relevant dates; those primary records will identify every member who voted to reject funding and thus caused the shutdown.