Democrats are holding out for a deal on Obamacare subsidies set to expire in December, meanwhile Republicans have refused to negotiate on the issue until the funding measure is passed.
Three Democrats voted in favor of the GOP-backed resolution, including Sens. John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Mastro, and Angus King.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought speaks to reporters at the White House, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The White House is preparing to lay off a large number of federal workers as the Trump administration pressures Democrats to vote for a stopgap funding resolution to reopen the government.
Vice President JD Vance joined White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at Wednesday’s press briefing, during which the pair suggested layoffs and reductions in force would be “imminent.”
“There are unfortunate consequences to a government shutdown, and the federal government is not receiving any cash at the moment, and so the Office of Management and Budget has been tasked with looking over the receipts and looking over the budget of the entire federal bureaucracy, and, as the vice president said, determining what needs to continue to go out the door, and what can we continue to keep running, and what unfortunately is going to have to come to an end,” Leavitt told reporters. “So those decisions are being made, and, unfortunately, layoffs are very likely.”
Judge’s gavel, Themis sculpture and collection of legal books on the brown background.
Despite the federal government shutdown, the Federal Courts of the United States will operate normally until Oct. 17.
This announcement comes after the judiciary initially announced it could remain open only until Oct. 3. The judiciary can remain open thanks to court fees and other nondiscretionary funds. The courts announced that most proceedings and deadlines will continue as scheduled.
If the shutdown continues and the judiciary runs out of funds, the courts will remain open to fulfill their obligation under Article 3 of the Constitution. However, resources will be scaled back and employees will be furloughed if necessary.
2 hours ago
Trump leans on Vance’s Senate background during shutdown fight
Vice President JD Vance speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Vice President JD Vance took center stage Wednesday at the White House press briefing on the first day of the federal government shutdown, during which he insisted that Democrats were responsible for the impasse on Capitol Hill.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Vance as her special guest minutes before the briefing started, signaling Vance’s lead role in President Donald Trump’s response to the battle with Democrats. Vance spent Wednesday morning doing a heavy slate of television hits, attempting to shoulder Democrats with the blame for the shutdown.
“The reason your government is shut down at this very minute is because, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of congressional Republicans and even a few moderate Democrats supported opening the government, the Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic Party shut down the government,” Vance said. “Because they said to us, we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for healthcare for illegal aliens.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Wednesday that federal worker reduction-in-force measures are coming imminently.
Leavitt’s announcement came just after Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told House GOP members that layoffs would be coming in one or two days.
“Two days, imminent, very soon. You will expect more announcements right now,” Leavitt told reporters. “These RIFs are unfortunately going to happen very soon.”
In the press briefing, Leavitt confirmed that Vought, who raised the possibility of layoffs in advance of the shutdown, is meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon to discuss a proposal on the matter.
“He’s going to kind of walk them through what this unfortunately is going to look like, so they can discuss it with their constituents back home in their respective districts,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt told reporters it would be irresponsible for the White House “not to take a look at each and every agency and get an understanding of what we’re going to have to do moving forward to do the best we can in the midst of this government shutdown.”
She blamed Democrats for putting the Trump administration in the position to consider RIFs. “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do,” Leavitt said. “If the Democrats did not vote to shut down the government, we would not be standing up here talking about layoffs today.”
3 hours ago
Vance suggests government shutdown will be short, moderate democrats will crack: ‘Pure guess’
Vice President JD Vance taking questions from reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Vice President JD Vance made a “pure guess” that the government shutdown will not last long, telling reporters that he believes Democrats are already “cracking.”
“I can’t predict what congressional Democrats are going to do,” Vance said. “But I actually don’t think it’s going to be that long of a shutdown. This is a pure guess from the vice president of the United States, because I think you already saw some evidence that moderate Democrats are cracking a little bit.”
Vance told White House reporters during a press briefing that Democrats are straying from their previous party rhetoric that “You don’t shut the government down over policy disagreements.”
3 hours ago
Vance promises to stop sombrero memes if shutdown ends
Vice President JD Vance speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Vice President JD Vance said President Donald Trump would stop posting artificially generated videos of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) if the government shutdown ends.
“I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make this solid promise that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. I talked to the president of the United States about that,” Vance said.
Jeffries criticized Trump’s Truth Social videos of Jeffries in a sombrero as “racist” and “bigoted” Tuesday, telling MSNBC, “We need from the president of the United States an individual who actually is focused on doing his job.”
Vance made his comments during a press briefing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, telling reporters that Trump was joking with the memes.
“The president is joking and we’re having a good time,” Vance said. “You can negotiate in good faith, while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions.”
3 hours ago
Vance accuses Schumer of fearing AOC primary challenge
Vice President JD Vance speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Vice President JD Vance said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is afraid of a primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in 2028, reiterating Republican claims that it is the reason he pushed to vote down GOP funding bills.
“The reality here, and let’s be honest about the politics, is that Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Vance said. “The reason why the American people’s government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to the far left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge.”
Vance made the point during a press briefing with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday.
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) had a similar point earlier Wednesday, saying Schumer’s fear of a primary challenge from Ocasio-Cortez is pushing him to side with the “radical wing” of the Democratic Party on the funding resolution proposals. Barrasso said Schumer is trying to prove he is “more liberal” than Ocasio-Cortez.
4 hours ago
Mike Johnson makes no promises on Obamacare subsidies amid government shutdown
House and Senate Republicans stand on the West Terrace of the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 1, 2025, on the first day of the government shutdown. (Washington Examiner/Graeme Jennings)
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) did not commit to extending Obamacare tax credits that expire at the end of the year, a sticking point for Democrats as the government enters its first shutdown in seven years.
Johnson was asked during a press conference with House and Senate GOP leaders whether he would be open to negotiating an extension of the Obamacare subsidies once the government reopens, a position Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) indicated that he would support.
But the House speaker dodged the question, instead blaming Democrats for holding up government funding and forcing a shutdown to get Republicans to meet their demands.
A handful of Democrats and Republicans are asking that their pay be withheld during the government shutdown, arguing that they should face the same consequences as federal workers and agents.
Among the Republicans asking for their paychecks to be paused are Reps. Chip Roy (TX), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Tom Barrett (WI), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Bob Latta (OH), Mike Lawler (NY), Juan Ciscomani (AZ), Tom Kean Jr. (NJ), and Rob Bresnahan (PA). All four members of the Iowa delegation to the House have also decided to forgo pay until the government reopens.
The lawmakers have insisted they don’t want to see a paycheck until “an appropriations agreement has taken effect.”
The White House is playing a video montage on a loop showing Senate Democrats decrying the use of government shutdowns as a negotiating tactic in the press briefing room on Wednesday.
Among the lawmakers in the video is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“If the government shuts down, it will be average Americans who suffer most,” Schumer previously said on the Senate floor.
The White House also has a clock on its website counting the hours, minutes, and seconds since the latest shutdown took effect after midnight on Wednesday.
4 hours ago
Schumer coalition holds steady as Democrats oppose third GOP funding vote
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., attends a news conference about the government shutdown, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) kept his caucus mostly in lockstep on the third vote to fund the government as Republicans hope to peel off Democrats uncomfortable with a protracted government shutdown.
Schumer did not lose any additional votes on Wednesday as Republicans put up the same House-passed funding bill that failed hours before a government shutdown began at midnight.
In a 55-45 vote, two Democrats and one independent supported the bill, as they did on Tuesday, but other senators viewed as possible defectors opposed the extension, which would reopen the government for seven weeks.
Democratic caucus chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A top Democrat said President Donald Trump will need to be present in Congress to negotiate any possible agreement to end the government shutdown.
“I don’t think we trust any deal without Donald Trump in the room as part of it,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “House Republicans have proven that even if they agree to something, they have to go back to him to bless it.”
Democrats and Republicans are both blaming the other side for the onset of the government shutdown, which started just after midnight on Wednesday.
Aguilar called on his Republican colleagues to engage with Democrats to approve a stopgap funding measure for the next several weeks.
“We are saying, ‘Let’s avoid this shutdown, let’s end this and let’s have conversations about what’s necessary to fix the healthcare crisis that you have created,’” he said.
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) dismissed a question about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) leading the Democratic caucus amid the government shutdown following Ocasio-Cortez’s X post Tuesday night.
Ocasio-Cortez posted: “If Republicans want to blame their shutdown on me, they are more than welcome to come to my office and negotiate anytime. Unlike them, I won’t let kids and hard working people get cut off their insulin and chemo on my watch. They know it, too. Door’s open fellas. Your call.”
Watch her response here:
Video from Washington Examiner’s Lauren Green.
6 hours ago
Vought to meet with Republicans this afternoon over layoffs during shutdown
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is set to meet with House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon to discuss layoffs and departmental cuts during the government shutdown.
Vought will hold the call with Republicans at 1 p.m. Wednesday, according to Punchbowl News. A White House press briefing following the call is expected later in the afternoon.
Senate Democrats voted down House Republicans’ continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21, leading to the shutdown that has been in effect since midnight.
Vought announced the Trump administration is cutting $18 million in New York City infrastructure projects due to concerns over diversity, equity, and inclusion. The move comes after the top two Democratic congressional leaders, Jeffries and Schumer, allowed their party to reject the stopgap funding measure.