Trump Says ‘We Will Not Be Extorted’ on Shutdown

Good evening. Here's your update for Day 21 of the government shutdown.

Trump Holds Firm on Shutdown as GOP Eyes New Funding Bill

As the government shutdown enters its fourth week, Senate Republicans visited the White House on Tuesday for a celebratory luncheon at President Donald Trump's new Rose Garden Club.

The president saluted congressional Republicans, who have largely stuck together in the shutdown fight, and signaled little interest in negotiating a deal with Democrats, who are demanding an extension of expiring healthcare subsidies and have repeatedly called for Trump to get involved in negotiations.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters that Democrats reached out to Trump on Tuesday seeking to set up talks before Trump's planned trip to Asia at the end of the week. "We urged him to meet with us," Schumer said. "We said we'll set up an appointment with him anytime, anyplace before he leaves."

It's unclear if anything will come of the request, but Trump on Tuesday called on Democrats to "stop the madness" and approve a Republican short-term continuing resolution to fund the government. "From the beginning, our message has been very simple: We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs," Trump said. "Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats need to vote for the clean, bipartisan CR and reopen our government. ... They are the obstructionists."

Trump also praised White House budget director Russell Vought, who has used the shutdown to announce funding freezes for infrastructure and climate projects in Democratic-led states and cities. "They call him Darth Vader, I call him a fine man," Trump said. "He's cutting Democrat priorities, and they're never going to get them back."

'We don't need to pass any more bills': In his meandering remarks, Trump also touted the $200 million White House ballroom he's having built as well as other construction projects; defended his tariff policies and his controversial military crackdown on crime; and praised the gathered GOP senators for their work in advancing his agenda and approving his nominees. And he hailed the package of tax and spending cuts Republicans passed this summer.

"We passed a bill. We don't need to pass any more bills. We got everything in that bill," Trump said. He falsely claimed that the bill would "secure" Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Schumer blasts the GOP 'pep rally': The Democratic leader called for House Republicans, who haven't held a vote since September 19, to come back to the Capitol and criticized Senate Republicans for their visit with the president. "As millions of Americans continue to endure the pain of one of the longest shutdowns in American history, Republicans will be celebrating keeping the shutdown going," Schumer said. "Republicans may not have time to fix people's healthcare, but apparently, they got plenty of time for a mini pep rally with Donald Trump."

A new GOP stopgap: Even as Trump called on Democrats to approve the GOP's stopgap spending bill, Republicans are now acknowledging that the shutdown has dragged on so long that the House-passed measure funding the government for seven weeks will need to be updated. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins all reportedly said Tuesday that the timeframe in the Republican bill will need to be extended.

"There's a realization that we're going to have to have an extension because we've wasted all these weeks," Collins said.

GOP leaders had wanted to pass a stopgap to buy time for further progress on full-year spending bills. That work has essentially been frozen during the shutdown. With their original November 21 deadline fast approaching, Republicans reportedly are divided over how long a new funding bill should last. "GOP leaders are discussing dates ranging from mid-December to deep into 2026, and - in hopes of bringing Democrats aboard a shutdown-ending stopgap - they have offered to hold a separate vote on extending key health insurance subsidies alongside it," Politico reported Monday night. Democrats have insisted that Republicans provide more of a guarantee that the expiring subsidies will be extended.

Thune reportedly suggested that a full-year CR may be needed as the shutdown fight continues. Collins told reporters that she adamantly opposes such a long-term CR, but other Republicans are embracing the option. "The idea of going deeper into the year - or potentially next year - has gained traction with a growing number of Republicans who acknowledge that they will need more than just a month to negotiate a sweeping deal that would set new funding levels, and new policy priorities, for the rest of the fiscal year," Politico said.

How Trump Is Paying Some Federal Workers During the Shutdown

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are not receiving paychecks due to the government shutdown, but the White House has promised to pay some favored categories of employees such as servicemembers and immigration officials by shifting federal funds around in highly unorthodox - and potentially illegal - ways.

As The New York Times's Tony Romm reports, the Trump administration has "stretched its authority" to pay some workers, despite a lack of approval for the payments from Congress, which controls spending under the Constitution.

To pay members of the military, Trump has tapped $8 billion from a special fund dedicated to research and development of weaponry while giving the Pentagon approval to use any leftover funds to meet payroll. To pay immigration agents and other law enforcement officials, the White House has turned to a $10 billion fund dedicated to border protection that was created by the massive tax and policy law last summer - though those paychecks have not yet been issued. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on social media last week that more than 70,000 federal agents will receive "super" paychecks on October 22 that cover all hours worked during the shutdown.

Legal scholars have questioned the White House's drive to expand its power over spending, largely at the expense of Congress, but the Trump administration argues that the shutdown fundamentally alters the rules. The general counsel of the White House budget office said that under normal circumstances, the executive branch cannot shift funds from one account to another, Romm reports. But during the shutdown, the lapse in funding means that payment accounts no longer exist, the administration argues, giving the executive branch more leeway to use existing funds as it sees fit.

More broadly, the Trump administration and many of its conservative supporters argue that the executive branch should have far more power than it has claimed over the last few decades, including the right to freeze or redirect spending authorized by Congress.

Although pushback from Congress on the issue has been modest, some lawmakers are raising questions about Trump's reprogramming of funds. "Look, I want the troops to be paid," Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz said, per Politico. "But, as usual, they find the most illegal way to do everything."

Some Republicans are concerned, as well. Sen. Jerry Moran, a senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee, told Politico that he wants the White House to follow the established rules. While paying troops is "a desired outcome," Moran said, "there's a process that's required - by Constitution and by law - for Congress to be not only consulted but engaged."

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, another appropriator, also called on the White House to play by the rules. "There's a way we take care of this," she said. "It's called appropriations. It's called reprogramming. And I don't think that process is being respected."

Shutdown News

• Trump Hosts Senate Republicans at Renovated White House as the Shutdown Drags into Fourth Week – Associated Press
• GOP Leaders Eye New Stopgap Spending Measure to End Shutdown – The Hill
• Republicans Aren't Negotiating an Obamacare Extension Yet. But They're Getting Ready – Politico
• Republicans Broach a Longer Stopgap Bill as Shutdown Enters Fourth Week – Politico
• US Republicans, Democrats Float New Tactics Amid Government Shutdown – Reuters
• Vulnerable House Republicans Press Johnson on Obamacare Subsidies – Politico
• States Warn SNAP Benefits May Stop in November if Government Shutdown Continues – CBS News
• Interior Department Reveals Plans to Lay Off More Than 2,000 Employees – Federal News Network
• Air Traffic Controllers Could Soon Be Getting No Pay – New York Times
• Government Shutdown Imperils Dozens of Head Start Preschool Programs – Associated Press
• No Education Department? No Problem, Trump's Education Secretary Says – New York Times
• Government Shutdown Means Many CDC Experts Are Skipping a Pivotal Meeting on Infectious Disease – Associated Press
• Unilever Delays Ice-Cream Spinoff, Citing U.S. Shutdown – Wall Street Journal

Views and Analysis

• Could Democrats Win the Shutdown Standoff? They're Still Winning the Blame Game – Aaron Blake, CNN
• What's Happening to End the Government Shutdown? Nothing – Stephen Collinson, CNN
• How Trump Played 'Budgetary Twister' to Pay Some Workers During the Shutdown – Tony Romm, New York Times
• Inside Mike Johnson's Shutdown Strategy of Keeping House Republicans Away From Washington – Mychael Schnell, MSNBC
• Fed Making Key Economic Decisions Without Key Economic Data – David Dayen, American Prospect
• Shutdown With No Clear End Poses New Economic Threat – Lydia DePillis, New York Times
• Democrats Can't Afford to Unconditionally Surrender on Shutdown – Ed Kilgore, New York
• ObamaCare Premiums Are Doubling? Don't Believe It – Chris Jacobs, Wall Street Journal
• Washington May Be Missing Signs of Economic Trouble – Eugene Ludwig, Politico
• Congressional Casework Is Hard. The Shutdown Is Making It Harder – Justin Papp, Roll Call
• 'Power of the Purse' at Stake – Paul M. Krawzak, Aidan Quigley and David Lerman, Roll Call (podcast)
• They're Small, Yellow and Round - and Show How Trump's Tariffs Don't Work – Michael Grunwald, New York Times
• The Natural Rate of Interest Foretells America's Fiscal Doom – Clive Crook, Bloomberg
• In Praise of the Idle Rich Wastrel – Timothy Noah, New Republic
• Neither Party Dominates in Favorability or Trust – Lydia Saad, Gallup
• No, the Boomers Did Not Take It All – Robert Kuttner, American Prospect