The government shutdown is entering its third week with no sign that it will end anytime soon — and every indication that the Trump administration is preparing to fire more federal workers and target Democratic priorities. At the same time, the White House is taking some steps to mitigate some of the pain of a shutdown, which could make the shutdown drag on for longer by reducing the political pressure on members of Congress to reach a deal.
Some developments on Day 14:
'Batten down the hatches': The White House Office of Management and Budget led by Russell Vought laid out its basic plan in a social media post Tuesday morning that again blamed Democrats for the shutdown: “OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” it said. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”
Vought announced those RIFs – reductions in force, for those fortunate enough to be unfamiliar with the term — on Friday, and the Trump administration fired about 4,000 federal workers across seven agencies. (See more below about cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) The layoffs have been challenged in court by unions representing government workers.
Trump says more cuts are coming: Trump has previously indicated that he sees the shutdown as an opportunity, and he reiterated the point on Tuesday.
“The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown, because we’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to,” he said, “and they’re never going to come back in many cases. So we’re being able to do things that we were unable to do before. So we’re closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we wanted to close up or that we never wanted to happen, and now we’re closing them up, and we’re not going to let them come back. The Democrats are getting killed.”
Trump added that a list of “the most egregious socialist, semi-communist” programs to be cut would be coming on Friday.
Taking care of the troops: With about 1.3 million active-duty members of the U.S. military at risk of missing a scheduled payday on October 15, Trump over the weekend announced that he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID,” adding, “We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.”
The administration is reportedly also set to use tariff revenue to fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, more commonly known as WIC.
Senate fails to pass GOP plan an eighth time: The Senate this evening again failed to advance a Republican plan to fund the government through November 21 — the eighth time the GOP bill has been blocked. Unlike the previous seven votes, however, a competing Democratic bill wasn’t allowed a vote this time as Republicans try to dial up the pressure on Democrats.
“I guess Democrats are not going to be satisfied until military families and government workers are lining up at food banks or visiting payday lenders or simply charging necessary items like milk and bread on their credit cards to be repaid late,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said before the vote.
The bottom line: Republicans insist they won’t budge. Democrats continue to press their healthcare demands. The stalemate will go on.