Travelers move through Salt Lake International Airport in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
This report has been updated.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate failed for the 13th time Tuesday to advance an emergency budget proposal that would fund the government through Nov. 21 and end the nearly month-long government shutdown.
Tuesday was also the day air traffic controllers working without pay missed their full paychecks for the first time. The FlightAware delay tracker reported 7,404 delays within, to or from the United States and 161 cancellations within the United States on Monday. A ephemeral ground stop was issued on Sunday morning at Los Angeles International Airport due to staffing issues.
In the country’s capital, the 54-45 votes was almost identical to that previous 12 votes, while Republicans and Democrats stuck to their positions. The bill needed at least 60 votes to advance through the Senate’s legislative filibuster.
Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, both Democrats, as well as Maine Independent Senator Angus King, voted with Republicans to advance the legislation. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted no.
Vance defends SNAP cutoff
Democrats are under increasing pressure to pass the emergency solution passed by the House of Representatives for the Republicans’ 42 million Americans There is a risk that food aid will be lost Many federal employees are starting work in November miss their paychecks and one of the largest unions representing federal workers is calling for an end to the government shutdown, now in its 28th day.
Amid the government shutdown, the Trump administration has decided to lay off federal employees, and a federal judge is holding a hearing on it Tuesday Consider getting a restraining order to block the mass reductions or RIFs.
As President Donald Trump continues his overseas tour of Asia and meets with foreign leaders, Vice President JD Vance met with Senate Republicans for their caucus lunch on Tuesday.
Vance defended the USDA’s decision not to exploit its congressionally appropriated emergency fund to continue food assistance despite a funding shortfall.
“We’re looking at all options,” Vance said.
(Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsoom)
Congress provided the USDA with the multi-year emergency fund, which amounts to about $6 billion — less than the roughly $9 billion needed to cover a full month of SNAP benefits. The USDA would have to reallocate funds to make the payments in November.
“We are trying as much as possible to ensure that essential food services are paid for,” Vance said.
A coalition of Democratic state officials filed suit Tuesday the Trump administration and asked a federal judge to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to release SNAP benefits to 42 million people.
Vance called on five Democrats to join Senate Republicans in passing a short-term funding bill.
“If Democrats would just open up the government, we wouldn’t have to play this game of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole in the budget,” Vance said.
Democrats continued to vote against the House GOP short-term spending bill to focus attention on and force negotiations over tax credits that expire at the end of the year for people who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. Republicans maintain the government must be reopened before they begin talks.
Voting on SNAP funding available
Republicans are also considering whether to pass a standalone bill from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri to authorize funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Ten Senate Republicans have joined together to support the bill, including Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine. A Democratic senator, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont, also supported the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would also introduce their own bill to provide funding not only for SNAP, but also for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
During a news conference Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appeared unwilling to schedule a Senate vote on a standalone bill to address SNAP.
“I mean, this piecemeal approach, where you do it once here and then there to make it seem more politically palatable to someone … that’s just the wrong way to go about it,” Thune said.
Instead, he argued that Democrats should simply support the stopgap bill.
Another critical date is approaching. Active-duty military members will lose their paychecks through Friday if the government still finds itself in a funding gap. The Trump administration does $8 billion reprogrammed Earlier this month from multi-year Defense Department research funds to pay the troops.
However, Vance said the Trump administration expects to be able to pay troops this Friday, although the vice president did not elaborate on where those funds would come from.
Before Tuesday morning’s vote, Thune said Democrats should listen to calls for an end to the shutdown of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union normally allied with Democrats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, also cited AFGE’s call, telling Democrats during a news conference Tuesday: “You have an opt-out.”
“The largest unions are saying, ‘Please do this,'” Johnson said. “You can use that as a cover and say you had to do it.”
Last week, both parties clashed over bills related to federal employee pay during the shutdown. But those efforts failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to advance.
The end of the government shutdown in 2019, which lasted 35 days, was due in part to a shortage of air traffic controllers that upended air travel across the country and forced lawmakers to reach a deal.
Schumer criticizes decisions to close the administration
During a press conference on Tuesday, Schumer criticized the Trump administration for refusing to tap its emergency fund for SNAP.
“The money is there,” said the New York Democrat. “The hungry people, the hungry children, the hungry veterans, the hungry elderly could be fed, but Trump is using them as hostages.”
Of the 42 million people on SNAP, about 40% are children ages 17 and younger.
He also criticized Trump for traveling abroad and his administration’s emphasis on it demolish the East Wing of the White House for a ballroom.
“His top priority is his ballroom,” Schumer said. “What kind of president is this when people are suffering?”
