U.S. government shuts down as Trump and Congress fail to reach a funding deal
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • last year • 72 commentsBy: Sahil Kapur, Julie Tsirkin and Gabe Gutierrez
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government officially shut down at midnight after Congress and the White House failed to reach an agreement on how to extend federal funding.
President Donald Trump's Republican Party controls both chambers of Congress, but it needs Democratic support to pass a bill in the Senate, where 60 votes are required. And the two parties failed to craft a bipartisan bill, with the Senate rejecting both a GOP proposal and a Democratic proposal just hours before the shutdown deadline.
It's the first government shutdown since 2018, in Trump's first term, which was the longest ever at 34 days, lasting into early 2019. There is no clear path to a resolution, with the two sides fundamentally at odds over how to resolve the impasse.
Federal employees will go without pay for the duration of a shutdown, while members of Congress and Trump will still receive their salaries. About 750,000 employees will be furloughed each day, the Congressional Budget Office said, while others who work essential jobs, like Transportation Security Administration agents, air traffic controllers, federal law enforcement officers and members of the military, will be forced to work without pay.
Under federal law, they are all scheduled to receive back pay once the government reopens, even for the time some didn't work. Compensation for furloughed workers will cost taxpayers $400 million, according to the CBO.
We'd like to hear from you about how you're experiencing the government shutdown, whether you're a federal employee who can't work right now or someone who is feeling the effects of shuttered services in your everyday life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or reach out to us here .
What are the next steps after government shutdown?02:22
National parks will remain partially open during the shutdown. Medicare and Social Security benefits are unchanged, as they aren't subject to the annual funding process, though new applicants could face delays due to workers' being on furlough.
Trump, meanwhile, suggested Tuesday he could fire "many" federal employees in a shutdown.
The clash comes after months of political warfare between the two parties, with Democrats demanding provisions to extend health care funding — most notably Obamacare subsidies set to expire and raise people's premiums at the end of this year. They also sought assurances that Trump won't keep unilaterally withholding spending directed by Congress.
GOP leaders declined to haggle over a short-term bill to prevent a shutdown temporarily, offering a proposal that would keep the government open at current spending levels until Nov. 21. They said they'll negotiate spending policy only through the regular federal funding process. Democratic leaders said that's not enough, vowing to oppose any bill that failed to include their priorities.
The West Wing has seemed to relish the coming battle, believing Democrats will shoulder the blame and eventually cave in.
A White House official said it'll be hard for Democrats to defend why they're not agreeing to a "clean" funding bill to keep the government open. A second White House official noted that Trump held two health care-related events Tuesday, related to drug prices and pediatric cancer.
Still, three members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted for the Republican bill Tuesday night: John Fetterman, D-Pa., Angus King, I-Maine, and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. That means they'll need at least five more Democrats to pass it.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., suggested that more Democrats could support the GOP bill once the pain of a shutdown begins.
"The cracks in the Democrats are already showing," Thune told reporters. "There are Democrats who are very unhappy with the situation. ... Tonight was evidence that there is some movement there."
Thune has said he won't negotiate policy with Democrats while they take the government "hostage," an analogy he has made repeatedly in recent days.
But the Senate's top Democrat vowed to hold firm against a bill that lacks Democratic input.
"Republicans are plunging America into a shutdown — rejecting bipartisan talks, pushing a partisan bill and risking America's health care worst of all," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters. "They've got to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to come to a bill that both parties can support."
The next steps could be dictated by the court of public opinion, as each party believes the other will take more of the blame for a shutdown. A New York Times survey released Tuesday found that 26% would blame Trump and the GOP, while 19% would blame Democrats, 33% said they'd blame both equally, and 21% more were undecided. A Marist University poll found that 38% would blame Republicans, 27% would blame Democrats, and 31% would blame both equally.
The shutdown came after a White House meeting Monday between Trump and leaders of both parties, the first time Trump had discussed the issue with the minority leaders, Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. The meeting yielded no breakthroughs and even led to a new round of partisan sniping, which Trump initiated hours later by posting an insulting artificial intelligence-generated video of the two Democrats.
The next morning, Jeffries called Trump a coward.
"Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don't cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I'm back in the Oval Office, say it to my face," he said Tuesday on the Capitol steps. "Say it to my face."
The second White House official dismissed any criticism of the video. "It was funny," the official said, adding that despite the backlash, it had the intended effect: Many news channels replayed it, making the Democrats look foolish.
The bitter fighting and the lack of any further bipartisan talks foreshadowed the shutdown.
White House budget director Russell Vought issued a memo hours before the midnight deadline saying agency heads should "execute their plans for an orderly shutdown."
"It is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict. Regardless, employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities," Vought said in his memo.
Less than an hour later, the Senate adjourned, calling it a night with no solution. It will return Wednesday, but with no clear plan to break the impasse. Thune said he hopes Democratic lawmakers will take a stand against their leadership.
"I just think they're under so much pressure from the left in the country," Thune told NBC News. "But I do think that they have rank-and-file members who really want to be in a different position than the one they're in right now."
It is unclear when the government will reopen. Republicans feel compelled to defend Trump's policies that the opposition party is seeking to undo, like his Medicaid cuts. And Democrats face pressure from their base to take a more aggressive posture against second-term Trump, who they say is behaving like an autocrat.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday that he expected the shutdown to last until at least next week.
"I don't think anything's going to happen until the House gets back," he said, predicting Democrats would soften. "Then people can sit down and find a way to get it done."
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The House produced a clean bill to fund the government for a few months, and democrats rejected it.
"clean bill" was produced without any input from one side. Sounds like a dirty deed done dirt cheap to allow the creep to take away from the poor and give to the rich, and ain't that a bitch...
As was the case when democrats controlled the House.
Sounds like a dirty deed done dirt cheap to allow the creep to take away from the poor and give to the rich, and ain't that a bitch...
It means that if democrats want to a $ million to the bill they'll have to wait for a budget proposal. In the meantime, the President is now legally free to terminate a lot of things and ain't that a bitch.
The "clean bill" was solely for funding the government. The democrats wanted to add unrelated nonsense to it. This is squarely on the Democrats.
"The Democrats wanted to ad unrelated nonsense to it."
Something they are known to do on a regular basis.
There were 10 CR's passed during the Biden administration. How many times did we hear from Democrats that this was just a clean CR and Republicans needed to get on board?
As usual, partisan groupthink is leading the discussions.
Poll: Americans more unhappy with Democrats than Republicans in Congress : NPR
Poll released yesterday
Sad day for Americans - the professional politicians now far outnumber the public servants in government
Who did NPR poll?
The article only states:
No breakdown on affiliation.
The partisan breakdown for this survey among registered voters is 35% Democrat, 34% Republican, and 30% independent.
The Schumer shutdown begins, remember democrats, your chosen leaders are doing this because they care more about free healthcare for illegals than paying our military and first responders.
What, specifically, are they asking for to sign the bill?
Nothing that benefits US citizens like health care for illegal aliens and funding the Democrats propaganda outlet (NPR).
So you don't know, or you're just more willing spout lies?
Then break down the $1.5 TRILLION the Democrats are trying to add. So far you haven't proven me wrong.
But then there is this:
No healthcare money is going to illegal aliens. How's that for a start?
don't tire your fingers they don't read your comments and actually understand them
To back up your claim, you linked to another one of your claims????!!!!!
It was a link to a report that sheds light on your claim that federal healthcare money is not supposed to go to illegal aliens but an audit shows that some states have been shuffling federal money around to help their plans to pay for healthcare for those illegal aliens. But I guess getting someone to read is a bridge too far.
That was my thought also. Medicaid is primarily state program, but the feds subsidize much of the payments. Probably does not take much to move the fed money into the state coffers, pay illegals Medicaid, then claim the illegals were paid with state money.
Dems have been lying the whole time, even when confronted with facts about their lies.
And once again you fail to understand that asylum seekers are not illegal aliens. All you understand is that they have brown skin from coming from South of us.
And you can prove that those worthless illegals are asylum seekers and not just worthless criminals.
Just shows you again failed to read the link. The link is not talking about asylum seekers, but noncitizens with unsatisfactory immigration status.
Or, the legal term of "Illegal Alien".
A failure.
Undocumented immigrants cannot access any kind of government programs. Prove otherwise!
Yet, once again you FAIL to disprove it.....
California Improperly Claimed $52.7 Million in Federal Medicaid Reimbursement for Capitation Payments Made on Behalf of Noncitizens With Unsatisfactory Immigration Status | Office of Inspector General | Government Oversight | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Damn those facts.....
1st you need to provide the definition of their use of "Unsatisfactory". With Trump's administration "unsatisfactory" could easily mean asylum seekers that have not yet had their day in immigration court, even though they are here LEGALLY.
You notice that they do not use the terms "illegal immigrant" or "undocumented immigrant"? Why do you suppose that is?
Because California politicians are politically correct ignorant fuckards that use the term Unsatisfactory immigration status, instead of illegal, their are only 4 types of immigration status, Citizen, Conditional or permanent resident. (satisfactory), Non-immigrant status, those are the B1 or B2 temporary workers (satisfactory) and undocumented which is illegal pieces of shit or (Unsatisfactory) if you are an ignorant politically correct fucktard like California who also issues CDL to ignorant bastards who can't read traffic signs.)
The link was not from the California government, it was from the US Department of Health and Human Services, a federal department. It was a federal department calling them "unsatisfactory immigrants". So you should probably try to come up with a different excuse.
When did he come a Republican?
Despite EVERY ONE OF THEM voted for funding and keeping it open? How does that logic work?
Despite what the headline says, the White House and majorities in both chambers of Congress are in agreement. Chuck Schumer is holding the country hostage because Democrats want to continue giving large amounts of taxpayer money to insurance companies.
Yep, cuz insurance companies donate money back to political parties and candidates in order to help further their own agenda and get favorable treatment on bills. While in the last election cycle the Republicans received more money, one still has to wonder just who in Congress is actually trying to work for the country vs who is trying to work for their party.
I'm against that
I'm against these PACs and Citizens United but it's all legal at this point. Both parties do this sort of dealing, working favors for "their" supporters and getting money back in donations thru PACs but it does seem that it's a bit more obvious on the Democrat side. Case in point, Randi Weingarten with the American Federation of Teachers.
Don't let the stupid fucktards in the Democrat Senate and the propagandist in the media fool you, this is not about Obama care, those fuckers are straight up lying, it is about the subsides they used to buy votes, 1.2 trillion dollars in health subsides in the American Rescue plan of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction act of 2022, these subsides were designed to expire and the fucktards want to make these handouts permanent.
IMO if both sides spent as much time coming to an agreement as they did figuring out how to make people believing it is the other guys fault we would not be shut down.
something we agree on today
The Republicans LOVE the shut down. That way they can continue their goal of dismantling the federal government and laying off thousands of workers while they pretend it's the Democrats' fault. Trump is overjoyed.
Oh, and the claim that the Democrats want to provide health care to "illegal immigrants" is a LIE. Everyone knows it.
I looked and I looked and I looked and I looked and I looked and I don't see anywhere that you prove it's a lie. Why is that?
Rule 17 from the lib handbook. "Proof? We don't need no stinking proof!"
Fact check: Trump falsely claims Democrats want to give free health care to ‘illegal aliens’ in government shutdown battle
What an idiotic comment.
And see:
So it's another day ending in "Y". Then when they do provide something to back up their claims its usually from CNN, MSNBC or some other blogger organization.
No different than #8 and the bloggers you think are telling you fact in 8.1.2
The problem is the bill was a clean bill. ONLY for funding the government. You do understand what a "clean bill" is don't you?
You need to look at something besides Stormfront as the source for your information.
[deleted][✘]
1. Completely irrelevant to the "issue" you raised in Comment 8.1.
2. I'm certain that I have a far better understanding than you do.
When was I "confronted with facts"?
But COMPLETELY relevant to the cause of the shut down.
Is this/was this a "Clean Bill" that's a Yes or No?
Is that anything like the claim that illegal immigrants cannot register to vote? And how's that one working out for Maryland?
The very same type of bill the Democrats voted for 14 times already.
Exactly...nothing would have changed on Oct. 1st that wasn't in place on Sept. 31st !
[deleted][✘]
Of course democrats are trying to fund healthcare for illegals aliens.
Here’s one of their reps admitting it.
dems are shutting down the government so Schumer can show his donors he fights. That’s it. A completely partisan exercise.
Well, that and I believe he's also concerned about being primaried by AOC as she's made some talk about running for his Senate seat.
Yep.
and the big bufoonish bullship bill was a completely partisan exercise that brought US to thiis shitdown that Trump and his GOP will more so own, as Trump doesn't even comprehend or know what's in it, as he's more concerned for readying our military to confronmt the true enemies of this country, it's fckn citizens....WTF people ???
And you still don't understand that TRUMP isn't part of the budget process UNTIL Congress authorizes one.
You do know that, right?
Article 1,
Section. 7.
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
What's funny is what the Democrats refused to vote for was exactly same thing they voted for 6 months ago and 13 times under Biden. The bill put forward does not increase or decrease spending. It doesn't change a goddamn thing. Yet here the Democrats are demanding to add $1.5 TRILLION in spending.
This is 100% on the Democrats.
Democrats love shutting down government to get what they want. Now they are shutting it down cause conservatives won’t allow them to give FREE HEALTHCARE to illegals!
Have you noticed that virtually every shutdown was so democrats could push some nonsense through?