Thune to Push Military Pay Bill as Shutdown Enters Week 4

Happy Monday and happy Diwali to those celebrating! President Donald Trump is now nine months into his second term, and the government shutdown will be three weeks old tomorrow. We've got your evening update, but first, maybe take a moment to reflect on the fact that we've now reached a point where the terms "president," "king," "AI" and "dumping poop" all fit together in one sentence detailing our current political reality.

Thune to Push Military Pay Bill as Government Shutdown Enters Week 4

New week, same old shutdown stalemate.

The Senate on Monday evening failed for an eleventh time to advance a Republican bill to fund the government and reopen federal agencies that have now been shut down for 20 days. The House, meanwhile, has been out for more than a month. Its last vote was on September 19.

"Republicans seem happy not to work, happy not to negotiate, happy to let health care premiums spike for over 20 million working and middle-class Americans," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor, slamming the House for its long absence.

'No Kings' and no deal: As the standoff stretches toward a fourth week, there's little sign of a resolution - though some Republicans floated the idea that Democrats might be more willing to end the shutdown now that Saturday's "No Kings" protests are in the rearview mirror.

"Now that Democrats have had their protests and publicity stunts, I just pray that they come to their senses and end this shutdown and reopen the government this week," House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a morning news conference, the latest in a long series of dueling events at which the two parties try to win the messaging battle.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett floated the same idea in an appearance on CNBC Monday morning: "A lot of our friends in the Senate have said that it was just bad optics for Democrats to open the government before the 'No Kings' rally and that now there's a shot that this week things will come together, and very quickly, the moderate Democrats will move forward and get us an open government, at which point we could negotiate whatever policies they want to negotiate with regular order."

Hassett also dangled a stick in front of Democrats, threatening new measures to try to force them "to the table" - though it's been Democrats who have been calling for negotiations.

"I think the Schumer shutdown is likely to end sometime this week," Hassett said, using the phrase Republicans have adopted to blame Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the impasse. If it doesn't, Hassett added, "I think that the White House is going to have to look very closely, along with [White House budget chief Russell] Vought, at stronger measures that we could take to bring them to the table," he said.

Dems urge Trump to step in: Democrats have given little indication that they're ready to back off their demands for negotiations to extend expiring healthcare subsidies. Some reportedly acknowledge in private that they are worried they'll "get hammered" by their base if they vote to pass the Republican stopgap bill to fund the government through November 21.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Monday told reporters that President Donald Trump, who has not been very engaged in the fight, "definitively needs to get involved" in negotiations to end the shutdown. "He needs to get off the sidelines, get off the golf course, and actually decide to end this shutdown that he's created," Jeffries said.

But in speaking with CNBC, Hassett indicated that wasn't likely any time soon. The presidential advisor said that the White House is in discussions with the Senate, but that Trump is looking to congressional leaders to come to a resolution. "The president believes that the Senate needs to work this out," Hassett said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune last week offered Democrats to hold a vote on extending the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies if they agree to end the shutdown.

"I am willing to sit down with Democrats to discuss the growing unaffordability and unsustainability of Obamacare," Thune wrote in a Friday post on X. "It's a system they created, but I'm happy to hear them out. Heck, I'm even willing to give them a vote. Today. Tomorrow. Next week. You name it. But there's one condition: End the Schumer Shutdown. I will not negotiate under hostage conditions, nor will I pay a ransom. Period."

Democrats rejected that offer, insisting that a vote was essentially meaningless without a broader deal since the extension of subsidies would not be guaranteed to pass.

"You have to give the Democrats credit for one thing - and that's a healthy dose of gall," Thune said Monday. "It is truly amazing how a program Democrats created and tax credits that they chose to sunset have now become the Republicans' crisis."

What's next: Thune is expected to keep forcing votes on the GOP funding bill, and he is set to also bring up legislation this week to pay federal employees and military service members who have been required to work during the shutdown. Democratic votes would be needed to pass that measure, and it's not clear yet whether more Democrats will back it. Democrats last week blocked a bipartisan annual defense spending bill from advancing, insisting that resolving the shutdown should be lawmakers' priority.

Johnson said he would call House members back if the Senate approves the bill to pay federal workers and service members, but he suggested that outcome is unlikely.

Trump's Trouble Using Tariffs to Pay for Troops or Farmer Aid

President Trump signed a proclamation on Friday stating that he will impose a 25% tariff on imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks and a 10% tariff on imported buses starting on November 1.

The tariffs are being imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which gives the president broad authority to tax imports based on national security. Trump declared that at current levels, truck and bus imports "threaten to impair the national security of the United States" since they contribute to the erosion of the industrial base needed for military production and economic vitality.

"In my judgment," Trump proclamation says, "the actions in this proclamation will, among other things, strengthen supply chains; bolster industrial resilience; create high-quality jobs that will expand the skilled workforce in the United States; and increase domestic capacity utilization and United States-produced market share for [medium- and heavy-duty vehicles], certain [medium- and heavy-duty vehicle parts], and buses."

Trump had previously announced the truck tariff in September, with a start date of October 1. After that announcement, the Chamber of Commerce came out against the tariff. Per Reuters, the group noted that the largest exporters of trucks to the U.S. are Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, and Finland, "all of which are allies or close partners of the United States posing no threat to U.S. national security."

Easing the tariff burden? Even as Trump rolls out more tariffs and threatens to raise existing ones, some of his earlier import levies are being watered down, The Wall Street Journal's Gavin Bade and Jesse Newman report. The new truck tariffs are being partially offset by credits that U.S. automakers can use to reduce the cost of domestically assembled vehicles that incorporate foreign parts. The tariffs relief credits will now be available for three more years, through 2030 instead of 2027.

The White House is also exempting a range of products and materials from tariffs, which are summarized in a list referred to as Annex II, the Journal reports. Another list, Annex III, is being discussed, with a focus on goods that cannot be grown, mined or otherwise produced in the U.S. Products that could be included on the list include coffee, spices, pharmaceutical ingredients, metals and some aircraft parts.

Nick Iacovella of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a protectionist group that advises the Trump administration, told the Journal that tariff exemptions are compatible with the effort to maintain and enhance U.S. productive capacity. "It doesn't make sense to impose tariffs on products the U.S. doesn't have the capability to produce," he said.

No fiscal help: The Trump administration has claimed that surging tariff revenues will help the federal government make essential payments during the government shutdown, but so far that hasn't happened.

"We're going to take some of that tariff money that we made, we're going to give it to our farmers, who are, for a little while, going to be hurt until the tariffs kick in to their benefit," Trump said last month. Other potential beneficiaries discussed by Trump and White House officials include the military and nutrition assistance programs.

However, as Politico's Daniel Desrochers and Jennifer Scholtes report, the administration's ability to direct tariff revenues to their desired ends is extremely limited. Tariffs are import taxes paid by U.S. businesses and collected by the U.S. Treasury, and Congress is the branch of government that determines how to use the funds, leaving the administration few options to deploy the revenues as it sees fit.

Sen. Jerry Moran, a senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told Politico that the Constitution clearly gives the legislature the authority to levy taxes and spend revenue. "So while I'm certainly interested in the White House and President Trump's suggestions," he said, "there's the necessity of Congress acting to implement that suggestion, if that's the conclusion of Congress."

Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said that the administration is finding out that the Constitution imposes restraints. "They're learning that just declaring something to be the case doesn't make it true," he said.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy agreed that Congress would have to authorize any use of the tariff revenues - though Trump may have other plans. "That doesn't mean the president's not going to do it and then sort out the process later," Kennedy told Politico. "I mean, you see what I see. And I see what you see."

Fiscal News Roundup

• Thune: Time to Think About House Returning to DC to Vote on Government Funding – The Hill
• Jeffries Urges Trump to Jump Into Spending Talks: 'Get Off the Golf Course' – The Hill
• Lawmakers Bemoan Trump's Latest Power Grab: Troop Pay – Politico
• Nearly 3 Weeks in, White House and GOP Remain Aligned on Shutdown – Politico
• Interior Department Reveals Plans to Fire Hundreds of National Park Service Employees – The Hill
• Greene: GOP Will Lose House if It Doesn't Tackle Cost of Living – The Hill
• Democrats Demand Details on Planned Energy Department Layoffs – The Hill
• Trump Administration Hunts for Ways to Pay Air Traffic Controllers – Politico
• Trump Predicts 'Fantastic' Trade Deal With China to End Tariff Disputes – USA Today
• Trump Extends Auto Tariff Relief, Imposes Truck and Bus Duties – Bloomberg
• Supreme Court Is Told Trump Tariffs Are Illegal $3 Trillion Tax – Bloomberg
• Trump Struggles to Crack Tariff Piggy Bank – Politico
• The U.S. Is Tiptoeing Away From Many of Trump's Signature Tariffs – Wall Street Journal
• Global Economy 'Yet to Feel the Pain' From Tariffs, European Central Bank President Says – Politico
• ICE Is Hiring Dozens of Health Workers as Lawsuits, Deaths in Custody Mount – Politico
• Colombia's Leader Accuses U.S. of Murder, Prompting Trump to Halt Aid – New York Times
• US Universities Brace for Spending Cuts in Face of Tax Increase – Financial Times
• He Accused DOGE of Risking Social Security Data. It Cost Him His Career – Washington Post
• White House Begins Demolishing East Wing Facade to Build Trump's Ballroom – Washington Post

Views and Analysis

• How Is This Shutdown Different From Other Shutdowns? – Riley Beggin and Jacob Bogage, Washington Post
• Speaker 'Mad Mike' Johnson Becomes Voice of GOP Shutdown Strategy – Emily Brooks, The Hill
• The King of the Shutdown – Sophia Cai
• What You Should Know About Russ Vought, Trump's Shadow President – Andy Kroll, ProPublica
• Wall Street Is Betting on an Obamacare Deal. That Won't Fix Insurers' Troubles – David Wainer, Wall Street Journal
• When Could the Shutdown End? 5 Key Dates to Watch – Al Weaver, The Hill
• Trump's Tariffs as Fiscal Folly – Kimberly Clausing, Center for Economic Policy Research
• Despite Tariffs, US Merchandise Imports Increased and Exports Held Steady in the First Half of 2025 – Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Ye Zhang, Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Trump Says Inflation Is Dead. Most Data Says: Not Quite – Andrew Ackerman and Alyssa Fowers, Washington Post
• We Found a Solution to Homelessness. Now the Trump Administration Wants to Throw It Out – Philip Mangano, New York Times
• SNAP Benefits Will Soon Be Tied to Error Rates. These States Are in the Biggest Trouble – Alix Martichoux, The Hill
• Here's Who Pays When Undocumented Immigrants Get Health Care in America – David Ovalle, Washington Post
• White House Is Cutting Rare-Earth Research at the Wrong Time – Thomas Black, Bloomberg
• Mamdani's Ideas Have Been Tried Before - and Worked – Asli Aydintasbas, Politico
• Zohran Mamdani and the Tax-Hike Death Spiral – Allysia Finley, Wall Street Journal
• Trump Posts AI Video of Him Dumping Poop on Us. I Can't Believe I Wrote That – Rex Huppke, USA Today