Government shutdown to continue into next week after Senate votes fail again

House Democrats will hold a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. Eastern Time Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a letter sent Saturday to his colleagues. 

Jeffries did not detail what the meeting would entail.   

In the letter, Jeffries wrote that "instead of meeting to find a bipartisan agreement to end the shutdown, the President is playing golf, Speaker Johnson cancelled votes next week and House Republicans remain on vacation."

The House is currently in recess. It was scheduled to reconvene Monday, but House Speaker Mike Johnson extended the recess by a week, through at least Monday, Oct. 13.  

"Republicans have announced that Members will be given 48 hours notice in advance of any votes that will require travel back to Washington," Jeffries wrote.  

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced on its website Saturday that it was temporarily closed, the latest casualty of the government shutdown.

"The National Gallery of Art is temporarily closed and all programs are canceled until further notice," the message on its website read. "Check back for more updates."

The National Gallery of Art gets nearly four million visitors per year and has a collection of nearly 160,000 works, according to its website. Admission is always free to the public. 

On Friday, the Smithsonian said that its museums, research center and National Zoo would remain open through at least Oct. 11 thanks to "prior-year funds."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, called on House Republicans to "get back to work" after GOP leadership canceled next week's plans. 

"Speaker Johnson has canceled votes next week so House Republicans can continue their vacation, depriving Americans of affordable healthcare, preventing the swearing-in of Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva and stopping the release of the Epstein Files. Meanwhile, the government remains closed and healthcare costs are going up for millions of Americans," Jeffries said in a statement. 

Grijalva won a special election for an Arizona House seat last month, but hasn't been sworn in yet. Johnson has said Grijalva will be sworn in when the House returns. Grijalva is expected to be the final signature on a discharge petition to force a vote to compel the Trump administration to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

House Republicans will hold a phone call with members Saturday morning, according to two sources familiar with the plans. 

With Friday's schedule change, the lower chamber isn't set to return to Washington until Oct. 14.

The Senate adjourned at 3:57 p.m. for the weekend. The chamber will reconvene at 3 p.m. on Monday with votes on the pair of continuing resolutions at 5:30 p.m., meaning the shutdown will last at least until then.

In a news conference with Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Schumer criticized Johnson for keeping the House away from Washington next week.

"Well, we just heard that Speaker Johnson said the House is out again," Schumer told reporters. "Johnson and House Republicans care more about protecting the Epstein files than protecting the American people." 

Schumer was referencing Johnson slow-walking the swearing-in of Adelita Grijalva, who was elected on Sept. 23 to fill the seat of her late father in Arizona. Grijalva is expected to be the final signature on a discharge petition to force a vote to compel the Trump administration to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnson said earlier this week that Grijalva would be sworn in "as soon as we're back in session."

Schumer also faulted Republicans for running "the same play" and getting "the same result," referring to Friday's votes. 

"The question is, will they change course?" Schumer asked. "The votes aren't there." 

Schumer said Democrats "need the president to be involved" in health care negotiations. 

Klobuchar also criticized the president for posting fake videos to social media making fun of Democrats and making light of the shutdown situation. 

"He thinks this is funny. He thinks that people are going to joke about this. I promise you, they are not. They are seeing their premiums double right now," Klobuchar said.

Caitlin Yilek and Kathryn Watson

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, officially extended the lower chamber's recess by another week. 

During the House's brief pro forma session Friday afternoon, the House clerk read a notice from the speaker: "I hereby designate the period from Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, through Monday Oct. 13, 2025, as a district work period." 

The House was last in session on Sept. 19, when it passed the GOP measure. It was originally scheduled to be back in session on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, ahead of the shutdown deadline, but Johnson canceled votes. The House was then expected to be back Oct. 7. 

Johnson alluded to his plans earlier in the day, telling reporters the House will return "as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said he had a "brief chat" on the Senate floor with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, during votes. But Thune said he expects conversations with Democrats outside of leadership to be more fruitful. 

"I think the path forward on this is more likely to be achieved with rank-and-file members who actually want to have an appropriations process, want to get us back on track," he said. 

Thune said he's likely to head back to South Dakota this weekend amid the stalemate. 

Democrats held firm in their opposition to the House-passed Republican bill, making it all but certain the shutdown will extend into next week barring any last-minute breakthrough. 

The Senate failed to advance the GOP measure in a 54 to 44 vote. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican to oppose it.

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada voted in favor, as did independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats. 

No additional Democrats defected to the GOP side, an indication that the Republicans' pressure campaign has so far failed to win over more senators from across the aisle.

Two senators did not vote: Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Jerry Moran of Kansas.

On Friday morning, Jeffries went on MSNBC and said Mr. Trump is in the "presidential witness protection program." A reporter asked Jeffries in the afternoon to elaborate on what he meant.

"Donald Trump continues to hide behind deepfake videos since the meeting in the Oval Office on Monday," Jeffries said, a reference to AI-generated videos that the president's accounts have posted on social media in recent days. "And it's reasonable for the American people to wonder, what's going on? Why is there no presidential leadership?" 

He continued: "Vice President Vance offered to come up to Capitol Hill. I've been here all week. We've heard nothing, radio silence from the White House, radio silence from House Republicans, and radio silence from Senate Republicans because they're not serious. They wanted to shut the government down."

The Senate is now moving on to a procedural vote on the House-passed Republican funding patch. 

The votes of seven Democratic senators who helped advance a Republican plan to keep the government funded in March, but have so far opposed the GOP bill, will be closely watched. They include: 

• Dick Durbin of Illinois 
• Kirsten Gillibrand of New York 
• Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire 
• Gary Peters of Michigan 
• Brian Schatz of Hawaii 
• Chuck Schumer of New York 
• Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire 

Republicans need at least five more Democrats to drop their opposition in order to advance their latest plan, in addition to the three Democratic senators who are already on board.

Democrats' counterproposal to open the government failed to advance in a vote of 46 in favor to 52 against. The chamber is taking up a procedural vote on the GOP bill next.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said bipartisan talks are going "nowhere" based on conversations he has had. 

"I can only speak for myself. I'm not involved in any formal discussions, but I'm involved in several individual ones, and those suggest to me, there aren't any formal discussions going on," Tillis told reporters. 

The retiring senator, who has occasionally bucked his own party to vote against President Trump's priorities, criticized recent moves by Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, saying they risk future bipartisan agreements because they destroy trust. 

"That digs us a deeper hole. I think if you do that, you're going to create a bad faith environment here that could put us further out. They need to be very judicious, and they should be consulting with Senate leadership and House leadership before they do it. If they do it on their own, then they can own some of the reason why we get to an impasse," he said. "This institution requires 60 votes for the heavy lift stuff. If OMB goes about canceling things just like the rescissions that were foundational to past compromises, you destroy the credibility of future compromises." 

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who has voted in favor of the GOP bill, said he does not expect Democratic support for the bill to grow in the upcoming vote. 

"I don't think these votes will be any different than anything in the past," he said. "That would be a shock to me." 

Fetterman said he has not appealed to his colleagues to support the bill. 

The Senate is holding another procedural vote on Democrats' counterproposal, which is expected to again fall short of the 60-vote threshold.

No Republicans have supported the bill in the three previous votes on the measure. 

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, one of the Democrats seen as a potential to vote in favor of the House-passed bill, said bipartisan talks are still happening and she expected conversations to carry through the weekend. 

"People are still talking," she said. "Hopefully we can move people on both sides of the aisle to get some agreement." 

On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators that included Shaheen huddled on the floor during procedural votes to try to find a potential solution.

Shaheen would not say how she planned to vote on the GOP bill later in the afternoon. 

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said she believed her party would stick together in opposing the GOP bill, saying she is "confident that it is a righteous fight to keep health care premiums from going up for tens of millions of families." 

"This is not about holding out," she told reporters at the Capitol. "This is about fighting, and I think this is a righteous fight." 

Republican senators are hoping that the pressure of the ongoing shutdown and the White House's moves to freeze funding and threaten layoffs will be enough to peel off Democrats in the upcoming vote on advancing the House-passed continuing resolution.

The vote on Friday afternoon will be the fourth in the upper chamber on advancing or passing the resolution, which extends funding for seven weeks. The last two votes on Tuesday and Wednesday saw three Democrats defect and vote with Republicans:

• Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada
• John Fetterman of Pennsylvania
• Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats

The resolution needs 60 votes to advance, and Republicans control 53 seats. GOP Sen. Rand Paul is opposed to the bill, meaning eight Democrats would be needed for it to proceed to a final vote.

No other Democrats have publicly said they will support the GOP bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Thursday that the Senate will likely adjourn for the weekend if the vote fails again, pushing the shutdown into next week.

Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune stood firm in their decision to stick with a clean continuing resolution, rather than negotiate with Democrats over health care while the government is shut down. Johnson said the seven-week funding extension that passed the House would provide breathing room to negotiate with Democrats on long-term funding and their health care priorities.

"At some point, reason, good sense, common sense, has to take effect here," Thune said. 

Johnson said the president "takes no pleasure" in the government shutdown, but acknowledged he's "trolling the Democrats" and "having fun with" them in the meantime. 

"Now, are they taking great pleasure in that? No," Johnson said of the federal government's funding freezes and potential cuts. "Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. I mean, yes. Because that's what President Trump does, and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day, the decisions are tough ones."

Johnson said he spoke "at length" with Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought on Thursday, and Vought "takes no pleasure" in federal workers losing jobs. 

"The president takes no pleasure in this," Johnson said of impending federal layoffs and funding cuts. "But if Chuck Schumer's going to give Donald Trump the opportunity to determine what the opportunities are, he's going to exercise that opportunity, and that's where we are." 

Johnson was asked how the president could be both taking no pleasure in federal cuts and "having fun" with the shutdown situation.

"So the effects are very serious on real people, real Americans," Johnson said. "We support federal employees who do a great job in all these different areas. But what they're trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, is to point out the absurdity of the Democrats' position. And they're using memes and all the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but at the end of the day, the decisions are hard ones, and I'm telling you they're not taking any pleasure in that."

Asked about the White House's decisions to freeze infrastructure funding in New York City and Chicago, Johnson said, "I don't know, I didn't make those decisions. You have to ask the White House." 

But Johnson didn't deny that the president could be "trying to apply pressure" so the government reopens. 

Asked whether the decision to freeze infrastructure funding in blue cities and states could complicate shutdown negotiations with Democrats, Johnson claimed the president is "just as anxious as we are to get the government back open, because real Americans are being harmed by the Democrat shenanigans." 

"Is he trying to apply pressure to make that happen? He probably is, yeah, and I applaud that," Johnson said. 

A poll by KFF released Friday found that a large majority of Americans say tax credits for those who purchase health insurance on marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act should be extended. Democrats have made extending those credits their key demand in the shutdown fight. 

The KFF poll found 78% of U.S. adults say Congress should renew the credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Ninety-two percent of Democrats support the extension, as well as 82% of independents and 59% of Republicans.

KFF noted that "[b]oth parties could face political fallout if the enhanced tax credits are not extended, though the public says they will place most of the blame on those currently in charge." The poll found that 39% said the president would deserve most of the blame if the credits aren't extended, compared to 37% who said the same of Republicans in Congress and 22% who said Democratic lawmakers.

However, the poll also found that most Americans have not heard much about the tax credits, with roughly 6 in 10 saying they have heard "a little" or "nothing at all." The number who say they have heard "a lot" or "some" stood at 39%, an increase from 27% when the question was asked in June. KFF noted that the 78% of adults who said the credits should be extended did so after being informed that they are due to expire. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Republican leaders have said they are willing to negotiate with Democrats about extending the subsidies, but not in the context of funding the government, and not until Democrats agree to end the shutdown.

The Senate is expected to hold several votes Friday afternoon, including another round of procedural votes on the House-passed Republican measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21 and a separate measure from Democrats to fund the government through October. 

Both measures include security funding for lawmakers and other federal officials, but the Democratic measure would also make expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits permanent. 

Republicans say negotiations on the tax credits, which expire at the end of the year, can happen once the government reopens. 

The House-passed bill and its counterpart failed twice in the Senate last month. A procedural vote on each also failed Wednesday. 

The Senate was in session Thursday, but no votes were held in observance of the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. 

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced on the third day of the shutdown that the Trump administration is halting $2.1 billion in transit-related projects for Chicago.

"$2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects — specifically the Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project — have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting," Vought wrote on X.

He said the Department of Transportation would release more information on the funding pause. 

As the lapse in federal funding has continued, Vought has made a series of announcements stripping or halting funding for projects in states represented by Democratic senators. The Trump administration has frozen $18 billion in infrastructure projects in New York, home to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

It has also canceled nearly $8 billion in climate-related projects in 16 states, all represented by Democratic senators.

Senators first voted on the dueling measures to fund the government on Sept. 19, after the House passed the GOP-led bill that would fund the government until Nov. 21. The Democratic proposal, which no Republicans have supported, would fund the government until Oct. 31 and extend health insurance tax credits that Democrats have made a top priority. 

On Tuesday, with hours before the funding deadline, the Republican proposal picked up support from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat, and Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who had previously supported the measure, also voted in favor. 

Republicans had been hoping to gain more Democratic support in Wednesday's vote, but the outcome remained unchanged at 55 to 45. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has consistently opposed stopgap measures to keep the government funded, again voted against it. 

Senate Republicans are seeking to peel off more Democrats to support their proposal with Friday's vote.

"They'll have a fourth chance tomorrow to vote to open up the government," Thune said. "And if that fails, then we'll give them the weekend to think about it, we'll come back and we'll vote again on Monday."

On Thursday, the Senate was briefly in session, but held no votes as senators observed Yom Kippur.

The Senate is "unlikely" to be in session over the weekend, according to Majority Leader John Thune. 

On Thursday, the South Dakota Republican said if Friday's vote on the House-passed continuing resolution fails, then "we'll give them the weekend to think about it, we'll come back and we'll vote again on Monday."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said Thursday afternoon that Republicans have shown "zero interest" in having a conversation after congressional leaders met with President Trump at the White House on Monday. 

"Leader Schumer and myself haven't gotten a single phone call as it relates to a follow-up conversation," Jeffries told reporters. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said earlier Thursday that he wasn't negotiating with Democratic leaders because "I quite literally have nothing to negotiate."