Updated 2:43 pm, October 16, 2025
30 minutes ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
The Senate financial clerk emailed Senate staff on Thursday to tell them they will not receive their paychecks on Oct. 20 due to the government shutdown.
Senate Democrats blocked the Republican funding bill earlier Thursday, ensuring that Senate staff will miss their next paycheck. Staffers will receive back pay at the end of the shutdown.
42 minutes ago
From David Sivak
Democrats blocked the Senate from jump-starting negotiations on military funding Thursday, denying Republicans a breakthrough as the government shutdown becomes one of the longest on record.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) peeled off some Democrats wanting to get back to a bipartisan appropriations process, using a bill to fund the War Department to win over Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and two other swing senators in a 50-44 vote.
But the support was not enough to overcome the 60-vote threshold of the filibuster, meaning that the Senate will head home no closer to reopening the government over two weeks after it first shuttered.
3 hours ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
The Republican-backed “clean” continuing resolution to fund the federal government temporarily failed in the Senate for the 10th time on Thursday.
The Senate GOP did not gain any additional Democratic support for the bill this morning, continuing the deadlock that has led to a 16-day government shutdown. Three members of the Democratic caucus, Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), and Angus King (I-ME), persisted in voting for the Republican funding bill.
The Senate will vote this afternoon on a yearlong funding bill for the Pentagon. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hopes to force Senate Democrats to choose between blocking pay for military servicemembers or continuing to oppose any funding that does not revive Obamacare subsidies.
4 hours ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
The Senate is voting for the 10th time on the House-passed continuing resolution. The stopgap funding bill backed by Republicans has failed to gain any additional Democratic support since the shutdown began 16 days ago.
Without any progress on continuing to fund the federal government as a whole, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is pressing for Senate Democrats to support funding the Pentagon in a vote later this afternoon.
6 hours ago
From Grace Hagerman
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is holding a press conference on day 16 of the government shutdown.
The press conference is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
The speaker has held a press conference nearly every day since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.
23 hours ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
President Donald Trump directed the Department of War and the Office of Management and Budget to continue paying active-duty troops using remaining available Pentagon funds.
The White House memorandum stated that the congressional stalemate meant troops would not receive their scheduled paychecks on October 15th. The memo continued, “This potential outcome presents a serious and unacceptable threat to military readiness and the ability of our Armed Forces to protect and defend our Nation.
Active-duty military personnel and any reserve personnel who performed active service during the pay period would receive their paychecks. These troops’ pay would be sourced from any remaining congressionally appropriated funding authorized for servicemembers’ pay.
23 hours ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) poured cold water on the possibility of him debating House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) live on C-SPAN.
Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday that he would debate Jeffries after the government is reopened. He accused Jeffries of “engaging in political theater and stating absurd things.”
The House Minority Leader had said that he was looking forward to a debate with the Speaker of the House on C-SPAN’s new program, Ceasefire. Jeffries promised, “We’re going to try to get it scheduled, absolutely.”
24 hours ago
From Brady Knox
A federal judge issued an emergency order to temporarily halt the Trump administration’s permanent layoffs of federal workers.
The Trump administration has used threats of mass layoffs of government workers as one of its key pieces of leverage against Democrats in an effort to force an end to the government shutdown on favorable terms. On Wednesday, Susan Illston, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, sided with two unions suing the administration to prevent the firings.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
24 hours ago
From Joseph Nepomuceno
The Senate failed to pass the Republican-backed continuing resolution for the ninth time on Wednesday, fifteen days since the start of the federal government shutdown.
The vote failed to gain any additional Democratic support, with Republicans still needing five more supporters for the bill to pass. Republicans have not peeled off any Democratic support since the shutdown began.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he will set a vote on Thursday on a one-year funding bill for the Pentagon. Democrats have not announced how they will plan to vote.
1 day ago
From Asher Notheis
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the latest to target Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for the 2025 government shutdown, saying on Wednesday that Schumer is afraid of his poll numbers.
The federal government is about two weeks into its shutdown, which the Trump administration is pinning on Democratic lawmakers for failing to make a deal to reopen the government. Bessent said there’s “a thought” that Democratic lawmakers are waiting to end this shutdown until the “crazy” No Kings nationwide protest is over on Saturday.
He added that the Pentagon turned to “surplus funds” to pay the U.S. military on Wednesday amid the shutdown. He encouraged “moderate” Democratic lawmakers to break from their party and vote to reopen the government, saying they would be “heroes.”
1 day ago
From David Sivak
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has presented Democrats with a fresh unity test two weeks into the government shutdown, daring them to oppose a bill to fund the Pentagon and other full-year spending measures that enjoy bipartisan support.
On Thursday, Republicans will hold a procedural vote on War Department funding, forcing Democrats to decide between the optics of blocking pay for more than a million troops and sticking to their guns on their demand for healthcare concessions.
Separately, Thune has teed up a measure that would allow the Senate to negotiate with House leadership a three-bill “minibus” passed earlier this year.
1 day ago
From Molly Parks
“No Kings” protests are set to return this weekend, as demonstrators plan to rally against the Trump administration in thousands of cities across the United States on Saturday.
The demonstrations come as the federal government shutdown enters its third week. Republican leaders have criticized the protests as “hate America” rallies. “No Kings” has planned 2,500 protests in 2,200 cities, the group told the Washington Examiner, including several international gatherings in cities such as Madrid, Paris, and London.
“As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the No Kings nonviolent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power belongs to the people,” the group wrote in a press release.
1 day ago
From Emily Hallas
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said Tuesday that he is on board with a proposal to have a conversation with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on C-Span.
“I look forward to that,” Jeffries told reporters in Washington.
“We’re going to try to get it scheduled, absolutely,” he promised, referencing a possible joint appearance on C-Span’s new program Ceasefire.
1 day ago
From Rachel Schilke
EXCLUSIVE — The government shutdown and its impacts on payments for United States troops are the focus of House Republicans‘ campaign arm’s new ad, targeting vulnerable Democrats as mudslinging between the parties amps up with no funding solution in sight.
The National Republican Congressional Committee launched a modest paid advertisement targeting the 26 vulnerable House Democratic seats the campaign arm wants to flip in the 2026 midterm elections, in which the GOP is defending a razor-thin majority.
The government shutdown will be a temperature test to see whether the GOP trifecta is losing favor with voters, a trend that presidents and congressional leaders historically face as an administration’s policies and agenda fall into place. It will also determine how long Democrats will appease their base and stand up to President Donald Trump, or if a handful will ultimately fold, as they did in March.
1 day ago
From Rachel Schilke
Arizona state officials certified Democratic Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva’s special election win on Tuesday, with the state’s attorney general warning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that failure to swear in Grijalva or provide a “reasonable explanation” as to when the ceremony will occur will “prompt legal action.”
Attorney General Kris Mayes demanded Johnson swear in Grijalva “without further delay” in a letter sent on Tuesday and obtained by the Washington Examiner.
“Ms. Grijalva was elected with nearly 70% of the vote, and unofficial results were provided to you by the Arizona Secretary of State,” Mayes wrote. “Ms. Grijalva and the State expected that you would follow your usual practice and swear her into office at the earliest opportunity, just as you had done with five previous members elected in special elections.”
