A closed sign is seen on the Washington Monument on Oct. 1, 2025 in Washington, D.C. The federal government shut down many operations overnight after Congress failed to pass a stopgap funding bill. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday the administration is looking for ways to get a handful of additional U.S. Senate Democrats to vote for Republicans’ stopgap spending bill to reopen government. 

But, in the meantime, White House officials plan to lay off federal workers en masse, a dramatic and unsettling step that’s not traditionally been taken during past shutdowns. 

“We’re going to have to take extraordinary measures to ensure the people’s government operates — again not perfectly because it’s not going to operate perfectly in the midst of a shutdown — but operates as well as it possibly can,” Vance said.

Any Democrats concerned about the impacts of layoffs on federal programs or people’s lives, Vance said, should vote to advance a seven-week stopgap spending bill that has stalled in the Senate.  Senate and House Democrats say they will not support a GOP path to reopen the government unless Republicans agree to negotiate on rising health care costs. 

Typically during a shutdown, some federal employees are categorized as exempt, meaning they work throughout the funding lapse. Others are furloughed. All receive back pay once Congress funds the government, under a 2019 law.  

Widescale layoffs were not part of the 2013 shutdown or the 2018-2019 shutdown that took place during the first Trump administration. 

Vance during the White House briefing placed blame for the shutdown on Democrats, as the Trump administration ramped up similar rhetoric, including on government agency websites that said the “radical left in Congress” is at fault.

“Three moderate Democrats joined 52 Republicans last night. We need five more in order to reopen the government and that’s really where we’re going to focus, is how to get those five additional Democrats,” Vance said. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during the same briefing that layoffs for federal employees are “imminent” but declined to say what percentage of workers would be let go or share any other details. 

Leavitt indicated that White House budget director Russ Vought would release those details “soon,” saying she didn’t want to get ahead of that office.  

“These (Reductions in Force) are unfortunately going to have to happen very soon,” Leavitt said. 

Effects on key programs

The administration expects several programs will be impacted by the shutdown, including new enrollees in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC. 

Leavitt said the funding lapse means “1.3 million active duty troops will work now without pay; critical food assistance for low-income women, infants and children will now lapse, no new mothers or children are allowed to join this critical program because of the Democrats’ decision to shut down the government; telehealth services for seniors and in-home treatment options for Medicare patients will now come to an end; nearly 50,000 members of the United States Coast Guard are going to have to work unpaid; over 13,000 air traffic controllers will work without pay as well as TSA agents, which will very likely create flight disruptions; and pay will now stop for over 150,000 federal law enforcement officers. 

“These are not just numbers and statistics, these are real Americans who have families at home. And I saw some Democrat members today saying they’re still going to accept their paychecks because they have three kids at home and they have mouths to feed. Well, so do these federal workers.”

Members of Congress, the president and federal judges must receive their salary under various provisions in the Constitution. While some lawmakers have publicly asked for their paychecks to be withheld until the government reopens, that’s not a legal option. 

They could, however, donate their salaries to charity, which they can do regardless of whether the government is shut down.  

‘Mafia-style threat’

The threat to fire federal workers en masse has already prompted a lawsuit in a Northern California district court, arguing the executive branch has no statutory authority to fire federal workers during a government shutdown.

There were roughly 2.2 million federal workers throughout the country as of July 1, with large portions of them living in California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. Roughly 30% of the workforce is made up of veterans. 

Maryland’s Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen told States Newsroom on Wednesday morning that his office has not heard of any federal workers in his state being fired, and even if it were the case, “it’s illegal.” 

“The president has no additional authority, in a shutdown, to fire people,” Van Hollen said. “This is just a mafia-style threat and blackmail.”

He didn’t detail what plans Democrats have to prevent those potential firings, but called them unlawful and pointed to the lawsuit filed in California by labor unions representing more than 1 million federal employees. Those unions are the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner made similar remarks, saying “the president has no enhanced powers during the shutdown so his ability to randomly and arbitrarily fire is not enhanced.”

North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer said Democrats “don’t have the high ground in this situation” and need to pass the GOP stopgap bill so that the government can reopen. 

But Cramer said he’s concerned the White House budget office will go too far in implementing a shutdown, including mass layoffs, and could create challenges for Republican lawmakers. 

“I worry a little bit that they could be counterproductive for us politically in the long run, because other things are going to require 60 votes again,” Cramer said.

Legislation needs the support of at least 60 senators to advance toward final passage, a rule that typically leads to compromise and bipartisanship in that chamber. 

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said he hopes lawmakers can strike a deal to prevent the Trump administration from firing more federal workers. He said Congress has specifically carved out protections for federal workers, such as in 2019 when lawmakers included a provision to give back pay to furloughed federal workers.  

“So it used to be we had to fight about back pay after the shutdown,” he said. “Now everybody’s guaranteed back pay, so they have that as a backstop that they can count (on).”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a press conference Wednesday President Donald Trump’s administration “has been engaging in” the mass firings of federal workers since Trump took office on Jan 20.

“The Trump administration has been killing jobs,” the New York Democrat said. “This is a job-killing administration. Job creation is down, but you know what’s up? Costs. They promised to lower costs on day one. Costs aren’t going down. Costs are going up.” 

Here are department shutdown plans

The Trump administration has been steadily posting its plans for how many federal workers in each department will keep working without pay during a shutdown and which employees will be furloughed. 

The plans, listed below, also detail which programs the Trump administration believes it can legally continue during a funding lapse without violating federal law. 

They do not explain how many federal workers could be laid off and the White House declined to provide additional details about those plans or whether they’ll be posted publicly following the briefing, 

• Agriculture Department contingency plan
• Commerce Department contingency plan
• Defense Department contingency plan
• Education Department contingency plan
• Energy Department contingency plan
• Health and Human Services contingency plan
• Homeland Security Department contingency plan
• Housing and Urban Development contingency plan
• Interior Department contingency plan
• Labor Department contingency plan
• Justice Department contingency plan
• State Department contingency plan
• Social Security Administration contingency plan
• Transportation Department contingency plan
• Treasury Department contingency plan
• Veterans Affairs Department contingency plan

Attack banners

The Trump administration has taken a new approach to letting people visiting their websites know about the shutdown, adding banners laying the blame at Democrats’ feet. 

The Agriculture Department’s website states that “(d)ue to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

The website for the Department of Housing and Urban Development includes a pop-up and a banner on the homepage that reads, “The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”

The Defense Department had a more measured message: “The most recent appropriations for the Department of War expired at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sept. 30, 2025. Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status, without pay, until such time as a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law. Civilian personnel not engaged in excepted activities will be placed in a non-work, non-pay status.”

The message posted by the Department of Health and Human Services was similar. 

“Mission-critical activities of HHS will continue during the Democrat-led government shutdown. Please use this site as a resource as the Trump Administration works to reopen the government for the American people.”

The messages could be in violation of a longstanding rider in federal spending law that states “(n)o part of any funds appropriated in this or any other Act shall be used by an agency of the executive branch … to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress, except in presentation to the Congress itself.” 

Shauneen Miranda contributed to this report.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

This report has been updated

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate deadlocked Friday over how to fund the government past a deadline at the end of September, escalating the odds of a shutdown and heightening tensions on Capitol Hill. 

Democrats on a 44-48 vote blocked a seven-week stopgap spending bill that had passed the House just hours earlier, refusing to aid Republican leaders in getting the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both Republicans, voted against the bill, while Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman voted for it. 

Republicans on a 47-45 vote blocked a Democratic counter-proposal, a one-month stopgap bill that included several health care provisions. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters ahead of the votes that Democrats can either accept the GOP-drafted stopgap bill or shut the government down. President Donald Trump told Republicans they did not need to negotiate with Democrats on the legislation.

“The choice is pretty clear. It’s going to be funding the government through a clean, short-term continuing resolution or a government shutdown,” Thune said. “And that’s the choice the Democrats have. The House has acted. The president’s ready to sign the bill.”

Complicating matters is the congressional calendar, which has both chambers out next week for Rosh Hashanah. The Senate’s not scheduled to return until Sept. 29, with less than 48 hours to broker a deal and get it to Trump’s desk. 

Thune said he’s not inclined to bring senators back early, despite the impasse.  

“I’d say it’s unlikely we’ll be in next week but, obviously, you never completely shut the door,” Thune said. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters following his chamber’s vote on the stopgap he hadn’t decided whether to reconvene the House earlier than planned.

“There’s a lot of discussion about it,” Johnson said. “The members have a lot of work to do in their districts as well, and so we try to balance those interests.”

House Republicans announced later in the day the chamber wouldn’t come back until Oct. 1, essentially jamming the Senate with the GOP bill. 

Shutdown appearing more likely

Democratic leaders have vowed not to help Republicans get the votes needed on their current stopgap — a stark contrast from March, when Senate Democrats did just that, leading to significant frustration from their House colleagues.

The stalemate and congressional calendar have ratcheted up the odds of a protracted, deeply political government showdown that could last for weeks or even months. 

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said during floor debate the only path away from a shutdown runs through bipartisan negotiations. 

“Why aren’t they willing to just meet and actually start charting a course on how we move forward? I think the main reason is Donald Trump,” Murray said. “He told Republicans, ‘Don’t even bother dealing with Democrats.’ It seems like Republican leaders are just afraid to cross the aisle and have a simple meeting, a mere conversation, if it risks losing Donald Trump.” 

Murray said that approach to governing will have significant consequences for major legislation, which requires the support of at least some Democratic senators to advance in a Senate with 53 GOP members. 

“So to get things done for our families back home, Republicans need to work with Democrats,” Murray said. “And if Republican leadership cannot find the courage to do that on what should be low-hanging fruit here, if they can’t sit down with our Democratic leadership to talk about a short-term CR, what does that mean for the work that we’ve been doing for our full-year spending bills? What does it mean for extending those health care tax credits? And what does it mean for any of the other challenging issues we would all like to work on together to address?”

Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told reporters it’s “malpractice” and “bananas” that GOP leaders don’t plan to shorten or cancel the break. 

“What I’m hearing is that we’re not here next week. Like, are you kidding me?,” Murphy said. “You have all the evidence you need that Republicans want a shutdown — A, they refuse to negotiate and B, they’re sending us home for the week before the government shuts down. This seems like a planned shutdown as far as I can tell. 

“There’s zero effort — zero — by Republicans to try to solve this.” 

House passes bill

U.S. House Republicans passed the seven-week stopgap government funding bill earlier Friday.

The 217-212 vote represents the second time this year the House approved what’s called a continuing resolution on a predominantly party-line vote. 

Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden was the only member of his party to support the bill. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz were the only Republicans to vote no. 

House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the stopgap spending bill is needed to give lawmakers more time to pass the dozen full-year government spending bills and called it the “responsible path.”  

“We are certainly moving forward productively and a bipartisan, bicameral agreement is firmly within our grasp,” Cole said. “We just need more time to sustain negotiations and complete our work. That’s why we’re here today.”

Cole said that not approving a stopgap bill before the start of the next fiscal year on Oct. 1 would lead to a shutdown and hinder those talks.  

“Let me be very clear, a shutdown would do nothing to help our work on full-year bills or to support the American people,” Cole said. “So if you want stability for the American people, if you want time to negotiate in good faith and if you want regular order, you’ll support this CR. Any other vote would be reckless, not just for both parties but for the entire nation.” 

A ‘broken political system’

Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the committee, said Republicans’ decision to write the stopgap bill on their own signaled they weren’t actually interested in bipartisanship and that it “reflects a broken political system.” 

“They would rather shut down the government than sit down and talk with Democrats about lowering costs for millions of Americans, preventing people from getting kicked off their health care and stopping President Trump and budget director Russ Vought from stealing from our communities and from our constituents,” DeLauro. 

The Trump administration’s unilateral actions on spending, she said, are making work on government funding more complicated, since Democrats cannot trust the White House budget office to implement the laws as written. 

“This administration continues to freeze, to terminate and cancel $410 billion in commitments to families, to farmers, to children, to small businesses and communities in every part of our country,” DeLauro said. “Billions of these commitments will soon be lost forever if Congress refuses to rein in this administration’s illegal actions.”

Republican and Democratic alternatives

Republicans’ 91-page stopgap spending bill would fund the government at current rates through Nov. 21, giving lawmakers more time to complete work on the full-year appropriations bills. 

That bill, which was released Tuesday, includes $30 million to reimburse local police departments that provide security for lawmakers when they’re back in their home states, $30 million for the U.S. Marshals Service for “Executive Branch protective services” and $28 million to bolster security for U.S. Supreme Court justices.  

Democrats’ counter-proposal, released Wednesday, would fund the government through Oct. 31 and permanently extend the enhanced tax credits for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace.

The legislation would reverse many of the health care proposals Republicans included in their “big, beautiful” law, including substantial changes and funding cuts to Medicaid. 

Democrats’ 68-page bill would bolster security funding considerably more than the GOP proposals. An additional $30 million would go toward mutual aid agreements with local and state police departments that provide security for members in their home states, $90 million would be provided for House security programs, and $66.5 million for the Senate Sergeant at Arms. 

There would be an additional $140 million for the federal courts, the Supreme Court, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

No negotiations

Stopgap spending bills have been a relatively routine and bipartisan part of funding the government for decades, until this year when Republican leaders drafted the legislation on their own.

Democrats have said consistently that if GOP leaders don’t work with them to draft a bipartisan stopgap, they cannot expect Democrats to vote for the final product. 

The stalemate, which has to do with the process as well as significant policy differences, appears likely to lead to the first government shutdown since 2019. 

A funding lapse this year, however, will impact much larger swaths of the federal government than that 35-day shutdown. 

When that impasse began, Congress had passed five of the dozen full-year government funding bills, meaning that anyone working for Congress or in the departments of Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Labor and Veterans Affairs wasn’t impacted. 

Lawmakers have yet to pass any of the appropriations bills for the upcoming fiscal year, meaning every department and agency that makes up the federal government will have to decide which employees work without pay and which are furloughed if a shutdown begins. 

Those plans have been public in the past and appeared on the Office of Management and Budget’s website, but no guidance was posted as of Friday afternoon.  

The White House budget office did not respond to a request from States Newsroom about whether it intends to post agency contingency plans. 

Senators depart the Capitol

After Friday’s final vote, senators rushed out to catch flights back home. 

“That’s a wrap,” GOP Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno said as he walked off the Senate floor.

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin brushed past reporters and declined to answer questions, saying she had to catch a flight back to Michigan. 

GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota exited the Capitol together. 

As the two walked to cars waiting for them just outside the Senate, Ernst told Klobuchar to enjoy her break and the Minnesota Democrat added that she hoped Republicans and Democrats could work together during the brief recess.

Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said during a press conference that he was dumbfounded by Republicans’ actions. 

“I’m still a little flabbergasted that they couldn’t generate a majority for their own proposal and that we’re just over a week from a potential government shutdown,” Schatz said. “And I am more than a little flabbergasted that the House just decided after a six-week recess to take another recess and come back after the end of the federal fiscal year.”

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said during a separate press conference with GOP leaders that Democrats were bending to the demands of their voters. 

“Think about where we were the last time there was a CR to keep the government open, and Chuck Schumer voted for it,” Daines said. “What happened? The radical left attacked Chuck Schumer, and now today, he has yielded to the radical left that seeks a government shutdown.”