Photo of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., October 8, 2025 (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after a four-day weekend, but neither Republicans nor Democrats seemed ready to work on ending the government shutdown after another failed vote on a short-term funding bill.
President Donald Trump and administration officials also appeared unwilling to compromise anytime soon, if at all, announcing further spending cuts and layoffs as early as this week.
“We’re shutting down programs that are Democratic programs that we wanted to shut down or that we never wanted to happen, and now we’re shutting them down and we won’t let them come back,” Trump said. “We are not shutting down Republican programs because we think they work.”
Trump said his administration would release on Friday a list of projects it has canceled or plans to eliminate funding for, another step that will likely fall miniature of the bipartisanship and goodwill needed to end the shutdown.
The White House Office of Management and Budget posted on social media that it would try to alleviate some of the effects of the lack of funding and shrink the size of government by waiting for at least five more Senate Democrats to break ranks and support the stopgap spending bill.
“OMB is making every preparation to secure loopholes and overcome Democratic intransigence,” agency officials wrote. “Pay the troops, pay the law enforcement, continue RIF and wait.”
RIF refers to capacity reduction, a technical term for layoffs. Administration announced on Friday sent notices to employees in several departments, including Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury, informing them that they would soon lose their jobs.
Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers filed a lawsuit to block the layoffs from taking effect. The judge overseeing the case scheduled a Wednesday hearing to hear arguments before deciding whether to issue a ephemeral restraining order.
The outstanding wages in question
The Trump administration took several moves during the shutdown that are not typically taken during extended funding disruptions.
Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought pointed out may not provide back pay federal employees on furlough after the end of the business shutdown, as required by the 2019 Act. And they have demanded the cancellation of financing approved by Congress for projects in parts of the country that vote Democratic.
The Pentagon is also reprogramming money provide remuneration for active-duty troops this week, even though Congress has not acted on the issue.
The Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of government during the government shutdown are widely seen as an attempt to pressure Democrats to vote for a stopgap spending bill, but they have so far had no physical effect.
Another failed vote in the Senate
The Senate deadlocked for the eighth time on Tuesday evening Funding bill passed by the House of Representatives it was to last until November 21. The vote was 49 to 45. At least 60 senators are needed for the bill to pass under the house’s rules.
Nevada Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Maine Independent Senator Angus King voted with Republicans to pass their bill. Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who voted in favor of the bill, did not vote. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted “no.”
During his afternoon event, Trump said he wanted Democrats to sign something on reopening the government, though it was unclear what he meant because lawmakers in the Senate vote by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down.
“This was a position that was forced upon us by the Democrats, and all they have to do is sign a piece of paper saying we’re going to keep it the way it is,” Trump said. “You know, it’s nothing. It shouldn’t even be an argument. They’ve already signed it many times.”
No strategy
During a morning news conference, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not change his approach or negotiate with Democrats on a stopgap measure.
“I don’t have any strategy,” the Louisiana Republican said. “The strategy is to do the right and obvious thing and keep the government working for the people.”
Johnson has not allowed the House of Representatives to deliberate since overdue September, but he is holding daily news conferences with members of his leadership team to criticize Democrats and pressure them to support the short-term funding bill.
Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, said an additional 400,000 civilian federal employees will receive partial payments starting Tuesday amid the government shutdown. These federal employees work in the departments of Education and Interior, as well as the National Science Foundation.
“This will be the last paycheck these federal workers will receive until Democrats recover and reopen the federal government,” she said.
Last week, 700,000 civilian federal workers received about 70% of their regular pay due to the shutdown. These employees work, among others, for the Executive Office of the President, Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense civilians, NASA, the General Services Administration, and the Office of Personnel Management.
Active-duty soldiers were scheduled to miss their first paycheck at the Pentagon on Wednesday moved $8 billion in research funds to pay soldiers on time.
U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee Chairman Gus Papathanasiou issued a statement Tuesday that thousands of officers protecting members of Congress did not receive their full pay on Friday.
“The longer the break lasts, the harder it is for my officers,” Papathanasiou wrote. “Banks and landlords are not issuing passes to my officers because we are on a break in business – they still expect payment.
“Unfortunately, Congress and the administration are not actively negotiating and everyone is waiting for the other side to blink. This is not how we will end this shutdown, and the sooner they start talking, the sooner we can end this matter.”
Maryland, Virginia Democratic rally
Seeking to pressure the Trump administration to negotiate, Democratic lawmakers representing Maryland and Virginia, where many federal workers live, held a rally outside the Office of Management and Budget this morning.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner blasted GOP leaders, including OMB Director Vought, for using federal employees as “political pawns” and “token trading in some political debate.”
He said that if a deal is negotiated to reopen the government, the Trump administration must follow it and not illegally withhold or cancel measures approved by Congress, which has power over the purse.
“We will get the government reopened, but we need to make sure the agreement we made is honored,” Warner said. “OMB’s Russ Vought cannot pick and choose which federal programs to fund after Congress and the president meet.”
Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks sought to encourage Republicans to negotiate with Democrats on extending increased tax credits that expire at the end of the year for people who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act platform.
“Republicans would rather shut down the government than provide families with affordable health care,” Alsobrooks said. “It is beyond disgraceful, it is immoral and this type of immorality will hurt our country for generations to come.”
Congressional Democrats insisted before the shutdown began and for the 14 days that it lasts that they would not vote to advance a short-term government funding bill without a bipartisan agreement on the expiring subsidies.
GOP leaders have said they will negotiate on the issue, but only after Democrats advance a stopgap spending bill through the Senate.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued during an afternoon news conference that Republicans need Democratic votes in the Senate to advance the stopgap appropriations bill and should try to broker an agreement.
“We need them to abandon their failed ‘my way or the highway’ approach,” the New York Democrat said. “If Democratic votes are needed to reopen the government, and they are, then it must be a bipartisan discussion to find a bipartisan resolution on reopening the government.”
