Closing day eight: Congressional gridlock unchanged as first failed federal payout approaches

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters in the U.S. Senate press gallery, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

This report has been updated.

WASHINGTON – Congress has just one week to break the impasse and fund the government before active-duty military members lose their first post-shutdown paychecks.

That will be followed later this month by a pay shortfall for federal civilian employees and workers working for lawmakers – benchmarks that would traditionally escalate pressure on Democrats and Republicans to negotiate a deal.

But there was no peace between the two sides on Wednesday, as the Senate failed to pass a short-term Republican funding bill for the sixth time and Democrats failed to gain the support needed to put forward a counterproposal.

The 54-45 vote on the GOP bill and the 47-52 vote on the Democratic legislation fell compact of the 60 votes needed to advance under Senate rules.

Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, both Democrats, as well as independent Maine Sen. Angus King voted with Republicans to advance the multi-week funding bill. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul voted “no.”

The shutdown began on October 1, with the start of the federal government’s fiscal year 2026.

Trump is considering the idea of ​​a separate military pay bill

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected the idea of ​​voting on a separate bill to provide pay to active-duty military members during the shutdown, saying that if Democrats want to ensure pay for federal workers, they should vote for the stopgap spending bill.

“They live with this vote. They made this decision. The House is finished,” Johnson said at a morning news conference. “The ball is now in the Senate’s court. There is no point in hesitating in voting on the program. We did it. We shipped the product.”

Trump, speaking at the White House delayed in the afternoon, broke with GOP congressional leaders to pass a separate bill to ensure troops are paid during the shutdown.

“Yes, it will probably happen. We don’t have to worry about it yet. That’s a long time,” Trump said. “You know what one week is to me? Eternity. One week is a long time to me. We will take care of it. Our troops will always be taken care of.”

Johnson also seemed to completely reject the proposal an idea appeared by the Trump administration for failing to pay back wages to furloughed federal workers as required by the 2019 law.

“My understanding is that the law says they will be paid. There is another legal analysis floating around. I haven’t had time to dig into it and read it yet,” Johnson said. “But it’s always been like that, it’s a tradition and I think it’s a statutory right that federal employees get paid. And that’s my position. I think it should be that way.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at a news conference with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., standing behind him on Oct. 3, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks at a news conference with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., standing behind him on Oct. 3, 2025. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

During his afternoon speech, Trump muddied the issue by blaming Democrats for how his administration plans to deal with back pay for furloughed federal workers.

“We’ll see. Most of them will get their wages back and we’ll try to take care of that,” Trump said. “But some of them are greatly harmed by Democrats and therefore are not eligible.”

The shutdown will likely end only when congressional leaders start talking to each other about core policy issues, including how to address increased tax breaks for people who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. The credits will expire at the end of the year, resulting in a huge escalate in health insurance costs.

Democrats say an agreement must be reached before a GOP vote on a stopgap spending bill that would fund the government through Nov. 21. Republican leaders maintain they will not begin negotiations until Democrats vote to open the government.

“You can’t take the federal government hostage.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., said he and other GOP lawmakers are willing to talk to Democrats about tax breaks, but only after the government reopens.

“They have other issues that they want to raise, which I’ve talked about before we’re happy to discuss, and yes, I think there are some issues that both sides are interested in when it comes to health care in this country,” Thune said. “But you can’t take the federal government hostage and expect to have a reasonable conversation about these issues.”

Thune said the stopgap appropriations bill was needed to give both chambers more time to reach a final agreement on a dozen year-long government funding bills that were scheduled to go into effect at the start of the fiscal year.

“This provides a short-term extension for all this to happen,” he said. “That’s all we talk about.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans are divided on health care issues and want to avoid a public debate on tax breaks under the Affordable Care Act.

Schumer then read part of it social media post by Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which she expressed “total disgust” that health care premiums would double by the end of the year if no action was taken.

“More Republicans should listen to her because she’s right on the money on this issue,” Schumer said. “Meanwhile, Democrats’ position has not changed. We urge our Republican colleagues to join us in serious negotiations to reopen the government and extend ACA premiums.”

Trump’s threats

The consequences of the shutdown will become more severe the longer lawmakers remain intransigent, especially given President Donald Trump’s efforts to distinguish this funding shortfall from those in the past.

Trump said he would do it lay off federal workers by thousands, cancel financing approved by Congress for projects in democratic regions of the country and may not provide back wages for hundreds of thousands of furloughed federal workers.

Trump and administration officials are not sure when or how they will implement the layoffs, but a federal judge hearing arguments in a lawsuit brought by a federal workers’ union has ordered government lawyers to file a brief later this week detailing the plans and timeline.

Northern District of California Judge Susan Illston gave the Trump administration until the end of Friday to provide details on any planned or ongoing force reduction plans, “including the earliest date for public release of RIF notices.”

Illston, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, also told the Trump administration to detail which agencies are anticipating layoffs and how many workers would be affected.

Illston has scheduled Oct. 16 for oral arguments between the American Federation of Government Employees and federal government lawyers over AFGE’s request for a ephemeral restraining order to prevent the Trump administration from implementing layoffs during the shutdown.

Murkowski reports informal conversations

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, part of a bipartisan group that started informal talks, said during a brief interview Wednesday that the government must reopen before real steps can be taken on ACA tax breaks.

“I think the leadership has made it very, very clear that the way to open the government is to pass a bill that will allow us to open the government, and then there will be a lot of good conversations that can continue,” Murkowski said. “That doesn’t mean we have to wait until then to start talking, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re talking, but we’re talking out of range of your microphones.”

She said, “There aren’t many guarantees in this place, are there?” to a reporter’s question whether Republicans could assure Democrats on a majority vote on extending the ACA tax credit if they vote for the stopgap spending bill.

North Carolina GOP Sen. Thom Tillis said he expected the shutdown to last at least a few more weeks and urged Democratic senators to vote to reopen the government.

“Go and look at the list of Democrats who are either not running for re-election or are not running for re-election until 28 or 30,” Tillis said. “There are many of them who want to go through the plank, as I have done many times, to get funding from the government, and then the discussions start.”

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said talks between Democrats and Republicans are “stalled” but “we’re in talks with everyone.”

South Dakota GOP Sen. Mike Rounds said lawmakers had bipartisan “visits” though no real conversations.

“There is no framework,” Rounds said. “We just need to explain how important it is to end the shutdown. And once we’re done with that, we’ll get back to bipartisan work in the Senate.”

Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.

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