Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican from South Dakota, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, walk out during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Friday, October 10, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Valerie Preche | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The government shutdown extended into its third week on Wednesday as Republican and Democratic senators continued to spar over emergency funding proposals.
The Senate rejected the Republican-led short-term funding resolution for the ninth time Wednesday.
The Senate voted 51-44 not to re-approve a stopgap bill that Republicans advocated for a “clean” continuing resolution that would provide funding to reopen the government until at least Nov. 21.
Democrats want a funding bill to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year. This and other provisions in the Democratic bill would cost an estimated $1 trillion.
Wednesday’s vote came days after the Trump administration said in a court filing that more than 4,000 federal employees had received layoff notices.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought said Wednesday that there could be more than 10,000 total job cuts. But shortly after Vought made his remarks, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing federal workers amid the government shutdown.
Trump administration officials blame the so-called troop reductions on Senate Democrats’ refusal to vote in favor of Republican funding proposals.
“Democrats are forcing a government shutdown in 15 days, and Democrats are showing no signs of being ready to end the government shutdown,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Democrat, said on the floor early Wednesday.
“Even the prospect of military families going without pay was not enough for Democrats to reopen the government,” Thune said.
“Democrats aren’t worried about poor families who have an uncertain future for nutrition assistance, or Americans in flood zones who can’t renew their insurance or close on their homes in the middle of hurricane season,” Thune said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) disputed Thune’s claims, saying the government has been shut down since October 1 because Republicans “refuse to seriously work with Democrats to solve the health crisis looming for the American people.”
“As we speak, households are receiving letters about new health insurance rates, and more states are beginning window shopping periods for what health insurance will look like next year,” Schumer said.
“With an open race on the horizon, Republicans cannot continue to take this risk. It’s happening now. The health care crisis is now,” Schumer said.
Thune and other Republicans said they would be willing to discuss the issue of extending the ACA enhanced tax credits after short-term funding is approved.
“We need five more Democrats to support this clean, bipartisan continuing resolution that is sitting on the Senate desk and ready to be adopted and passed today, arguing that it is enough to put the American people ahead of the far left,” Thune said Wednesday.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump released a presidential memo directing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use remaining Congressional funds to pay active duty military personnel.
