The ongoing government shutdown is now the third-longest in modern U.S. history, topped only by a 34-day funding lapse in late 2018 and early 2019 and a 21-day fight in 1995 — and this shutdown, now in its 17th day, is going to stretch into next week and possibly far beyond.
Senators left the capital on Thursday after a three-day workweek that produced no progress toward a deal to reopen federal agencies. Democrats continue to demand negotiations to extend expiring healthcare subsidies. Republicans continue to insist that any negotiations must take place only after the government reopens. And President Trump has shown little interest in getting more directly involved in finding some resolution to the standoff.
Republicans have suggested that Democrats want the shutdown to extend past the large-scale “No Kings” protests planned for Saturday, which are expected to draw millions of Americans. GOP leaders have branded those gatherings as “Hate America” rallies and Johnson suggested this week that some Democrats “will come to their senses” once the weekend protests are done.
“Tomorrow, this rally is not about freedom. It’s about the opposite. For many of our Democrat colleagues, tomorrow is about creating really a spectacle,” Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Friday morning. “As the shutdown drags on, it’s become increasingly clear that this spectacle is the reason the Democrats have refused to reopen the government.”
Johnson also claimed again that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is simply looking to appease his progressive base to protect himself politically. “You’re holding the entire country hostage to protect your own political career,” Johnson said of Schumer.
Democrats dispute the idea that they purposely stretched the shutdown to reach this date, and Schumer has repeatedly dismissed the suggestion that he’s driving the shutdown for personal political gain. Schumer this week defended the protests as “an affirmation of what America is all about and said that he’ll be joining the No Kings marchers. “These are love America rallies,” Schumer said, urging peaceful protests. “There is nothing more American than exercising the right to free speech, especially the right to dissent and especially when our democracy is at risk because of what Trump and his Republican cronies are trying to do.”
As the shutdown continues, its impact grows. Among the latest reported developments:
* White House budget chief Russell Vought said Friday that the Trump administration will immediately pause more than $11 billion in “lower-priority” Army Corps of Engineers projects, including ones in Baltimore, Boston, New York and San Francisco, all cities run by and represented in the Senate by Democrats. “The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers' ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought said in a social media post, adding that the projects would also be considered for cancellation.
The Trump administration had previously announced that it was freezing $18 billion for New York infrastructure projects, $2.1 billion for such work in Chicago and $8 billion for climate projects across 16 states represented by Democrats in the Senate.
* The Supreme Court expects to run out of funding tomorrow. The court will continue to conduct its work, including hearing oral arguments and issuing decisions, but the court building will be closed to the public. Federal courts are expected to see funding lapse beginning on Monday, October 20. “Federal judges will continue to serve, in accordance with the Constitution, but court staff may only perform certain excepted activities permitted under the Anti-Deficiency Act,” the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said in a statement.
* The Interior Department is planning to cut thousands of jobs at the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service — but it reportedly said it halted some planned layoffs due to a recent court order blocking the administration from firing union workers during the shutdown. The department may still go ahead with layoffs of non-union workers and said in a court filing that these cuts are part of a preexisting plan and are not related to the shutdown.
* Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, warned Friday that the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile, is planning to furlough some 80% of employees as its carryover funding runs out. About 1,400 employees will reportedly be furloughed with just 375 continuing to work. “These are not employees that you want to go home,” Rogers told reporters at the House GOP leadership’s morning news conference. “They're managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”
The bottom line: See you next week for more of the same.