Capital Area Food Bank volunteers distribute items to furloughed federal employees in collaboration with No Limits Outreach Ministries in Hyattsville, Maryland, on October 28, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
This report has been updated.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate failed to advance a stopgap government funding bill for the 14th time Tuesday as the current shutdown lasted 35 days, now tied for the longest ever with the 2018-2019 shutdown.
The 54-44 vote was nearly identical to that previous 13 votesas Republicans and Democrats remained unwilling to change their positions. The bill, which extends funding through Nov. 21, required at least 60 votes to advance under the Senate filibuster.
Even though the upper house has been unable to pass a stopgap spending solution for more than a month, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday that he believes senators are “making progress.”
He floated to keep the Senate in session next week. The chamber is scheduled to take a break because of the Veterans Day holiday.
“We’ll think about it throughout the week, but I hope we make some progress,” he said.
Thune added that any stopgap spending bill would need to be extended past Nov. 21, “as we are currently almost at the November deadline.”
Duffy warns of flight chaos due to a lack of staff
Transport Minister Sean Duffy warned during a press conference on Tuesday The Transport Ministry said there would be “chaos” if the government shutdown lasted until next week and that certain airspace would have to be closed due to a lack of air traffic controllers who continued to work during the shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a separate news conference at the Capitol that he would again push the House to vote on a stopgap measure if the Senate extends the funding deadline.
“If the Senate passes something, of course we will come back,” Johnson said. “We are running out of time.”
Johnson said he was “not a fan” of extending the bill until December and would prefer a January deadline.
He said extending an emergency funding bill “into January makes sense, but of course we have to reach consensus on it.”
Senators divided
In Tuesday’s Senate vote, Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, both Democrats, and Maine Independent Senator Angus King voted with Republicans to advance the legislation. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted no.
Senate Democrats have refused to support the House-passed measure because of concerns about the expiration of health care tax subsidies. With the start of open enrollment, people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace will see a dramatic escalate in premium costs.
Republicans have maintained that any negotiations over health care must not take place until Democrats agree to fund the government.
The Trump administration has also sought to pressure Democrats to accept the House stopgap measure by ordering the U.S. Department of Agriculture not to exploit its emergency fund to provide vital food aid to 42 million Americans.
SNAP fight
Two federal courts have condemned the Trump administration acted unlawfully to withhold those benefits, and on Monday the USDA announced it partially release Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
However, President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform Tuesday morning that SNAP benefits would not be released until Democrats vote to reopen the government, a move that would likely violate the two court orders.
“The SNAP benefits that have increased by billions and billions of dollars (MANY TIMES!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous administration (due to the fact that they were arbitrarily handed out to anyone who asked, not just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!) will only be given when the radical left Democrats open the government, which they can easily do, and not before!” he wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing Tuesday that the president’s social media post did not refer to the court order but to future SNAP payments.
“The president doesn’t want to tap that (emergency) fund in the future, and that’s what he meant,” she said.
“Republican health crisis”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York stood firm on his party’s calls for an expansion of health care tax credits at a news conference Tuesday at the Capitol in support of a stopgap bill.
“We want to reopen the government — we want to find a bipartisan way to pass a spending deal that actually improves the lives of the American people, lowers costs for the American people, as opposed to the Trump economy where things are getting more expensive every day,” Jeffries said.
“And of course, we must decisively address the Republican health crisis that is crushing the American people across the country.”
He pointed out that Republicans’ refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act’s expanded tax credits would result in “tens of millions of Americans suffering dramatically higher premiums, copays and deductibles.”
A Analysis of KFF shows that those who enroll in the Affordable Care Act market and currently receive a tax credit are likely to more than double their monthly premium payments, by an average of about 114%.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the rise in health care premiums will cause some people to forego health insurance.
“This is a five-alert public health emergency,” Schumer said.
Johnson’s January CR justification
Meanwhile, Johnson said at his press conference that “a lot of people here have post-traumatic stress disorder over the Christmas omnibus spending bills” as he opposed an extension of the stopgap spending bill in December.
Republican leaders have sought to eliminate the practice of bundling final versions of the government’s dozen annual funding bills into a so-called omnibus package at the end of the year.
“We don’t want that. It’s too close and we don’t want to take that risk,” Johnson said. “We don’t do that.”
However, it is unclear how long the recent emergency aid law will apply. Thune said during a press conference Tuesday that a one-year continuing resolution (CR) is not on the table.
“There is a discussion about the next deadline,” Thune said, adding that there is no agreement yet.
