A closure notice sign is seen on the fence of the National Zoo on October 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. The closure affects all 21 of the Smithsonian’s museums, its research centers and the National Zoo. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate headed out for its usual long weekend Thursday afternoon after meeting for just three days despite the ongoing government shutdown.
The House remained on an extended break from Capitol Hill, where neither Democrats nor Republicans appeared motivated to talk despite the growing impact of the funding shortfall.
Federal courts, for example was reporting when the shutdown began Starting October 1st, they could operate “fee credits and other funds that do not depend on a new appropriation” to stay running until Friday October 17th.
“If the shutdown continues after judicial resources have been exhausted, the courts will operate under the provisions of the Antideficiency Act, which allows for the continuation of work during a resource failure when necessary to support the exercise of judicial powers under Article III,” the announcement said. “In this scenario, each court and federal public defender’s office would determine the staff resources needed to support this work.”
A court spokesman wrote in an email to States Newsroom that there would be no updates on funding or operations as of Thursday, but suggested an announcement may come Friday.
Trump’s spending cuts and layoffs
The shutdown had broad impacts across all three branches of government, including the Trump administration’s decision to cut spending approved by Congress and lay off thousands of federal workers temporarily stopped by a federal judge this week.
Federal employees classified as vital workers will not receive their paychecks until after the shutdown ends. Furloughed employees may never receive the back pay authorized in a 2019 law if the Trump administration reinterprets it, officials have announced.
None of the consequences created any real sense of urgency on Capitol Hill this week, where Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia was in session a birthday party for his dogor in the White House, where President Donald Trump held a ball sought donors for his ballroom and focused on foreign policy.
As in recent weeks, members of Congress and administration officials continued to hold separate press conferences and television appearances and insult their political opponents, but this did nothing to bring the two sides closer together and reopen the government.
Failed Vote #10
Senators failed for the tenth time to advance the stopgap government spending bill 51-45 votesfewer than the 60 needed to advance under the chamber’s legislative filibuster. Republicans control the chamber with 53 seats.
The Senate also was unable to overcome a procedural hurdle on the full-year Defense Department funding bill after a 50-44 votes. The Senate Budget Committee approved the bill this summer by a largely bipartisan vote of 26-3.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters before the vote that Democrats want to add some of the other annual budget bills to create a larger bill, although he did not say which of the dozens he preferred.
“It has always been unacceptable for Democrats to pass the defense bill without other bills that contain so many things that are important to the American people, in terms of health care, housing and security,” Schumer said.
He later added that leaders of both political parties “have always negotiated these budget deals on a bipartisan basis. Once again, they’re just going it alone.”
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, appeared to offer a package of bills negotiated between the parties ahead of the vote on the defense bill.
“We want this to be an open process with the opportunity to add additional bipartisan bills that address important domestic priorities, including biomedical and scientific research and infrastructure,” Collins said. “And we want members to have a say in the funding decisions that affect all of our states and voters at home.”
Emergency solution bills in 2025
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said during a speech earlier in the day that the short-term government funding bill was necessary to give lawmakers more time to negotiate final versions of the full-year budget legislation.
“We are simply asking them to extend the current funding bills for a few weeks while we work on full-year appropriations,” Thune said.
Congress is supposed to work out a bipartisan agreement between the House and Senate on these bills by the start of the fiscal year on October 1, but has not done so in time since the 1990s.
That’s why every September, when the House and Senate return from their August recess, they draft a stopgap bill that typically halts spending until mid-December.
These short-term measures, sometimes called continuing resolutions or CRs, were traditionally negotiated between Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers until earlier this year.
House Republicans, buoyed by last year’s election victories, decided in March to write a six-month stopgap bill of their own after approving two bipartisan short-term bills at the start of the fiscal year.
Senate Democrats expressed frustration with the process, but ultimately helped the Republicans Survive a procedural vote that required the support of at least 60 MPs, allowing the March stopgap measure to advance toward a elementary majority passed vote.
House Republicans repeated their previously successful maneuver last month, drafting their own emergency budget bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21.
However, Senate Democrats changed tactics and repeatedly voted to block The House of Representatives passed a stopgap bill from advancing.
Healthcare stalemate
Democrats contend that Republican leaders must negotiate an extension of expanded tax credits that expire at the end of the year for people who buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.
Republican leaders have repeatedly said publicly that they will do so, but cannot guarantee Democrats that a final deal will pass both chambers. They also say that talks will only begin once the emergency solution law comes into force and the government returns to power.
“Although we are only in this position because of the Democrats’ poor policy decisions, Republicans are willing to have this discussion,” Thune said. “But not until we reopen the government.”
Thune also expressed concerns about what message it would send to GOP leaders to negotiate during the shutdown, which he said would advocate using funding gaps to achieve political goals.
shutdowns in history
Republicans have forced the last two government shutdowns; the first in 2013 over efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and the second in 2019 over Trump’s urging of lawmakers to approve more funding for the border wall. Both were unsuccessful.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a speech Thursday that Republicans crafting the stopgap spending bill on their own represents a stark contrast to what has worked for years and that they cannot expect Democrats to vote for something they had no say in.
“Last month, the Republican leader’s favorite number was 13. He keeps citing 13 CRs that we passed when I was majority leader. Of course we did,” Schumer said.
“What he doesn’t mention – I don’t know if he’s forgetting or if he’s intentionally trying to ignore it – is that these 13 CRs were the result of bipartisan negotiations and serious conversations. We had to make changes to these bills when our Republican colleagues proposed them,” he added. “They were in the minority, but they had the right to be heard, a right that was completely denied to Democrats under this new Republican majority.”
Schumer warned Republicans about open enrollment in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace starting Nov. 1, saying tens of millions of Americans would soon realize what Congress’s inaction means for their family budgets.
He said Republicans’ unwillingness to negotiate before the shutdown began or after showed that they “either don’t understand it or are brutally callous.”
“I want to be happy, Mike”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a news conference Thursday morning that Republicans have “no idea” how the government shutdown will end and blamed Senate Democrats for not voting to submit the stopgap bill.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew R. Garbarino of New York said the government shutdown undermines the Department of Homeland Security’s ongoing operations.
“This shutdown makes our country less safe,” he said.
Garbarino said about 90% of federal employees at the Department of Homeland Security must continue to work because they have vital duties such as checking customs at ports of entry and monitoring airspace at airports.
He said this Those working unpaid include 63,000 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees. more than 61,000 Transportation Security Administration agents; and 8,000 secret service agents.
Garbarino added that he was grateful that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem used money from the One Big Beautiful Bill to pay the approximately 49,000 Coast Guard employees.
In a statement to States Newsroom, DHS said that because of funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill, it remains able to hire U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and “deploy law enforcement agencies across the country to make America safe again.” Against the backdrop of the government shutdown, the Trump administration has continued its aggressive crackdown on immigration policy.
Johnson expressed disappointment that some Department of Homeland Security employees were working without pay.
“We shouldn’t allow Border Patrol agents to go unpaid now because Chuck Schumer wants to play political games to cover his dick,” the Louisiana Republican said. “I don’t like being angry Mike, I want to be happy Mike…but I’m so upset about this.”
