U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters in the U.S. Senate press gallery on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
This report has been updated.
WASHINGTON — Congress has just a week to break the stalemate and fund the government before dynamic military members miss their first shutdown paycheck.
Lost wages for civilian federal employees and legislative staff would follow later in the month – measures that would traditionally escalate pressure on Democrats and Republicans to negotiate a deal.
But both sides remained adamant Wednesday as the Senate failed to pass Republicans’ short-term government funding bill for the sixth time and Democrats were unable to get the support needed to advance their counterproposal.
The 54-45 vote on the GOP bill and the 47-52 vote on the Democrats’ legislation fell brief of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules to advance.
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, both Democrats, as well as Maine Independent Senator Angus King, voted with Republicans to advance their multi-week funding bill. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted no.
The shutdown began Oct. 1, the start of the federal government’s 2026 fiscal year.
Trump is enthusiastic about the idea of a separate military bill
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected the idea of voting on a standalone bill to provide paychecks to dynamic military members during the shutdown, saying if Democrats want to ensure pay for federal workers, they should vote to advance the stopgap spending bill.
“You’re living with this vote. You’ve made this decision. The House is finished,” Johnson said at a morning news conference. “The ball is now in the Senate’s court. It does us no good to delay here on the show votes. We did it. We sent the product over.”
Speaking at the White House later in the afternoon, Trump broke with GOP leaders in Congress on passing a standalone bill to pay military members during the shutdown.
“Yes, that will probably happen. We don’t have to worry about it yet. That’s a long time from now,” Trump said. “Do you know what a week is to me? An eternity. A week is a long time to me. We will take care of it. Our military will always be taken care of.”
Johnson also seemed to completely reject this an idea came up by the Trump administration to stop providing back pay to furloughed federal workers, which is required by a 2019 law.
“It’s my understanding that the law requires them to be paid. There are other legal analyzes that are floating around. I haven’t had time to look into it and read it yet,” Johnson said. “But it’s always been that way, it’s tradition and I think it’s the law that federal employees should be paid. And that’s my position. I think that’s what they should be.”
During his afternoon appearance, Trump muddied the waters on the issue, blaming Democrats for the way his administration plans to handle back wages for furloughed federal workers.
“We’ll see. Most of them will get their pay back, and we’ll try to make sure that happens,” Trump said. “But some of them are going to be hit very hard by the Democrats and so they won’t qualify.”
The shutdown likely won’t end until congressional leaders start talking to each other about key policy issues, including how to address improved tax credits for people who buy their own health insurance on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. The loans expire at the end of the year, leading to a huge escalate in health insurance costs.
Democrats say a deal must be reached before they vote to advance the GOP stopgap spending bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21. Republican leaders claim they will only negotiate after Democrats vote to open the government.
“You can’t take the federal government hostage”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said he and other Republican lawmakers are willing to talk to Democrats about the tax credits, but only after the government reopens.
“They have other issues that they want to bring up, I’ve said that before we’re happy to discuss it, and yes, there are some things that I think there’s interest on both sides to address when it comes to health care in this country,” Thune said. “But you can’t hold the federal government hostage and expect them to have a sensible conversation on these issues.”
Thune said the emergency funding bill was necessary to give both chambers more time to hammer out a final agreement on the dozen year-round government funding bills that were scheduled to take effect by the start of the fiscal year.
“This results in a short-term extension to allow all of this to happen,” he said. “That’s all we talk about.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans were divided on health care issues and wanted to avoid a public debate over the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits.
Schumer then read part of it a social media post from Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, saying she was “absolutely outraged” that health care premiums would double by the end of the year without action.
“More Republicans should listen to her because she is right on this issue,” Schumer said. “Meanwhile, the Democrats’ position has not changed. We urge our Republican colleagues to join us in serious negotiations to reopen the government and increase ACA premiums.”
Trump threats
The shutdown’s impact will only get worse the longer lawmakers remain intransigent, especially given President Donald Trump’s efforts to distinguish this funding shortfall from those in the past.
Trump has said he will do it Firing federal employees in thousands, cancel the financing approved by Congress for projects in democratic regions of the country and may not provide Back pay for hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal employees.
Trump and administration officials were vague about when and how they would implement layoffs, but a federal judge hearing arguments in a lawsuit by a federal employees union has ordered prosecutors to file a brief detailing the plans and timeline this week.
Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston has given the Trump administration until the end of Friday to provide details of proposed or ongoing troop reduction plans, “including the earliest date on which these RIF notices will be released.”
Illston, who was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, also called on the Trump administration to detail which agencies expect layoffs and how many employees would be affected.
Illston has scheduled oral arguments on Oct. 16 between the American Federation of Government Employees and federal government lawyers on AFGE’s request for a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump administration from carrying out layoffs during the shutdown.
Murkowski reports on informal conversations
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, part of a bipartisan group that has begun informal discussions, said in a brief interview Wednesday that the government needs to reopen before real steps can be taken on the ACA tax credits.
“I think leadership has made it very, very clear that the path to opening government is to pass a bill that allows us to open government, and then a lot of good conversations can be had,” Murkowski said. “That doesn’t mean we’re waiting until then to start conversations, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re talking, but we’re talking outside the reach of your microphones.”
She said, “There aren’t many guarantees here, are there?” in response to a reporter’s question about whether Republicans could give Democrats assurances when voting to extend the ACA tax credits if they vote for the stopgap bill.
North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis said he expects the shutdown to last at least a few more weeks and urged Democratic senators to vote to reopen the government.
“Look at the list of Democrats who are either not running for re-election or running for re-election in 28 or 30,” Tillis said. “There are many of them who walk the plank, as I have done several times, to provide financial support to the government and then the discussions begin.”
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said talks between Democrats and Republicans have “stalled” but “we’re having conversations with everyone.”
South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said lawmakers have had bipartisan “visits” but no actual conversations.
“There is no framework,” Rounds said. “It’s just a matter of clarifying the importance of getting the shutdown behind us. And once we get the shutdown behind us, we will get back to bipartisan work in the Senate.”
Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.
