Travelers pass 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 on Tuesday failed for the 13th time to advance a stopgap spending bill that would have funded the government through Nov. 21 and ended a nearly month-long government shutdown.
Tuesday was also the day air traffic controllers, who work without pay, did not receive their first full paychecks. The FlightAware delay monitor reported 7,404 delays within, to or from the United States on Monday and 161 cancellations within the U.S. Temporary Ground Stop has been released at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday morning due to staffing issues.
In the capital of the country, 54-45 votes was almost identical to previous 12 votes, while Republicans and Democrats stuck to their positions. Legislation required at least 60 votes under the Senate’s legislative filibuster to pass the legislation.
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, both Democrats, and Maine Independent Sen. Angus King voted with Republicans to advance the legislation. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted “no.”
Vance defends SNAP break
Democrats are under increasing pressure to get 42 million Americans to vote on House-passed GOP stopgap measure at risk of losing food aid in November, many federal workers begin to do so miss paychecks and one of the largest unions representing federal workers calling for an end to the government shutdown, now on its 28th day.
Facing a government shutdown, the Trump administration decided to lay off federal employees, and a federal judge is holding a hearing in the case on Tuesday consider issuing a preliminary injunction blocking mass power reductions, i.e. RIF.
As President Donald Trump continues his overseas tour of Asia, meeting with foreign leaders, Vice President J.D. Vance joined Senate Republicans at Tuesday’s caucus luncheon meeting.
Vance defended USDA’s decision not to employ the contingency fund provided by Congress to continue food assistance benefits if funding lapses.
“We are exploring all options,” Vance said.
(Photo: Ariana Figueroa/States Newsoom)
Congress provided the USDA with a multi-year contingency fund totaling about $6 billion, which is less than the roughly $9 billion needed to cover a full month of SNAP benefits. USDA would have to reshuffle funds to provide November payments.
“We are trying to ensure that critical food benefits are paid as much as possible,” Vance said.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by a coalition of Democratic Party government officials Trump administration and urged 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 Republicans in the Senate and approve the short-term funding bill.
“If the Democrats would just open the government, we wouldn’t have to play this game of … trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with the budget,” Vance said.
Democrats continued to vote against the House GOP’s short-term spending bill aimed at drawing attention and forcing negotiations on tax credits that will expire at the end of the year for people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace. Republicans maintain the government must reopen before any talks begin.
Ability to vote on SNAP funding
Republicans are also considering whether to pass a separate bill by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley of the Republican Party authorizing funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Ten Senate Republicans joined in sponsoring the bill, including Senate Appropriations Chairman Susan Collins of Maine. One Democratic senator also co-sponsored the bill, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will also introduce their own separate bill that would provide funding not only for SNAP but also the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC.
During Tuesday’s news conference, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D. didn’t seem willing to schedule a Senate vote on a standalone bill targeting SNAP.
“I mean, this piecemeal approach where you do one thing here and one thing there to make it seem more politically acceptable to someone… that’s just the wrong way to do it,” Thune said.
Instead, he argued that Democrats should simply support the stopgap spending bill.
Another critical deadline is approaching. Active-duty military members will lose their paychecks by Friday if the government continues to have funding problems. The Trump administration already $8 billion was reprogrammed earlier this month from multi-year Department of Defense research funds to pay soldiers.
Vance, however, said the Trump administration expects to be able to pay troops next Friday, although the vice president did not detail where those funds would come from.
Before Tuesday morning’s vote, Thune said Democrats should heed calls to end the shutdown from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, which typically sides with Democrats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, also cited AFGE’s call, which told Democrats during Tuesday’s news conference that “you’ve gone off track.”
“The major unions are saying, ‘Please do this,’” Johnson said. “You can use it as a cover and say you had to do it.”
Last week, both parties introduced bills to pay federal workers through work stoppages, but these efforts fell tiny of the 60-vote threshold required to move forward.
The end of the 2019 government shutdown, which lasted 35 days, was partly due to a shortage of air traffic controllers that hampered air travel across the country and forced lawmakers to strike a deal.
Schumer critical of the decision to shut down the administration
During Tuesday’s news conference, Schumer sharply criticized the Trump administration for refusing to employ its emergency fund for SNAP.
“The money is there,” the New York Democrat said. “Hungry people, hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry elderly people could all be fed, but Trump is using them as hostages.”
Of the 42 million people receiving SNAP, approximately 40% are children 17 years of age and younger.
He also criticized Trump for foreign travel and his administration’s priority demolish the east wing of the White House to the ballroom.
“His number one priority is the ballroom,” Schumer said. “When people are suffering, what kind of president is he?”
