Republicans Cancel House Votes Next Week to Pressure Democrats

Thune and Johnson insisted they're not budging.
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Friday! Day 3 of the government shutdown saw the messaging battle continue with no real progress toward a resolution, meaning that federal agencies will stay closed into next week. Among the consequences of the shutdown: The monthly jobs report that was scheduled to be released today is delayed, so policymakers have less data about the state of the economy. Here's your update as we head into the weekend.

No Quick End to Shutdown as Senate Vote Fails Again

The third day of the government shutdown yielded a fourth round of failed votes to fund federal agencies and get furloughed federal employees back to work, and the partisan deadlock will now extend at least into next week, as no votes will take place this weekend - and House Republican leaders canceled legislative business for next week.

Senate votes fail again: In a 46-52 vote, the Senate again blocked the Democratic bill to fund the government through October 31. It then blocked the House-passed Republican bill to extend funding through November 21 in a 54-44 vote that fell short of the 60 votes needed. Three members of the Democratic caucus - Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Angus King, an independent from Maine - again joined Republicans in voting for the bill.

Friday's votes marked the fourth time the competing plans have been blocked in the Senate, and GOP leaders have vowed to keep forcing votes on their plan - but those votes will wait until next week, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune let senators head home for the weekend.

Johnson cancels House votes next week: As senators departed, Speaker Mike Johnson canceled the House's legislative business for next week, allowing members to stay in their districts. "The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government," Johnson said. "That's plain and simple."

The speaker's move is another attempt to pressure the Senate to reopen the government by approving the funding bill passed by House Republicans back on September 19. The House has not voted since then.

"I don't have anything to negotiate," Johnson told reporters again on Friday, noting that the Republican funding bill did not include any conservative policy priorities. "Republicans are being responsible. We're operating in good faith and we're trying to get the Democrats to do their job and they won't."

Johnson again blamed Schumer for the shutdown, arguing that the Democratic leader is looking to appease his liberal base to preserve his own political position. "He's afraid that the Marxist, far-left corner of his base is going to challenge him in New York," Johnson charged.

The Grim Reaper: President Trump, who has mostly weighed in on the shutdown through memes and social media posts, has embraced a strategy that seeks to leverage the lapse in appropriations to inflict cuts targeted at Democratic areas and priorities. On Thursday night, Trump posted a video depicting White House budget director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper, set to the Blue Öyster Cult classic "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

Vought on Friday continued to use the shutdown to slash spending in Democratic areas. He announced Friday that the Trump administration will halt $2.1 billion for Chicago transit projects "to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting." The announcement followed similar ones earlier this week in which Vought withdrew $18 million for New York infrastructure projects and $8 billion for energy projects in Democratic states.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson blasted the administration's move, comparing it to an administration deal to bail out the Argentinian government. "Argentina gets $20 billion and the South Side gets nothing," the mayor said in a statement. "What happened to America First?"

The House speaker insisted again Friday that Trump and Vought "take no pleasure" in making cuts but have been given an opportunity to do so by Democrats.

"Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes," Johnson told reporters, referring to the president. "I mean, yes, because that's what President Trump does and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day the decisions are tough ones."

Johnson defended Vought as well: "Russ wants to see a smaller, more efficient, more lean, effective federal government as we do, but he doesn't want people to lose jobs. He doesn't want to do that. But he has-that's his responsibility."

Previous government shutdowns have seen federal workers furloughed, not fired. Trump on Thursday said in a social media post that he could not believe that Democrats had given him an "unprecedented opportunity" to push his agenda and make cuts to federal agencies.

What's next: Democrats haven't shown any signs that the administration's pressure tactics will lead them to fold. "Republicans thought they could scare us," Schumer said. "It ain't working."

At the same time, with Vought's plans for mass firings expected soon, some Republicans are reportedly concerned about the White House funding cuts and the potential layoffs of thousands of federal workers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, told reporters that any talks on Democrats' healthcare demands can only happen after the government reopens. And he suggested that a solution to the shutdown may not originate with dug-in Senate leaders. "I think that the path forward on this is more likely to be achieved with rank-and-file members who actually want to have an appropriations process, want us to get back on track on the calendar legislatively," Thune said.

Lawmakers in both parties are reportedly holding informal talks to try to come up with a deal that could attract enough Democratic votes to reopen the government.

Most Trump Supporters Back Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies: Poll

Most Americans who support President Trump also support maintaining the enhanced Obamacare plan subsidies that are at the center of the conflict over the current government shutdown, according to new polling data.

A survey by the health policy nonprofit KFF found that 59% of Republicans and 57% of MAGA supporters said they think Congress should extend the enhanced subsidies. Overall, 78% of respondents said the same, including 92% of Democrats and 82% of independents.

Separately, data compiled by KFF also shows that states Trump won in 2024 are home to 18.7 million of the 24.3 million Affordable Care Act enrollees, or 77%. States that went for Trump have received more in Affordable Care Act premium tax credits and have seen enrollment grow more since the more generous subsidies were introduced.

If the subsidies are extended, the poll found that most respondents said they would be very or somewhat concerned about the cost to the government. Overall, 63% said they would worry about the cost to some extent, including 49% of Democrats, 82% of Republicans and 61% of independents. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a permanent extension of existing subsidies would cost $350 billion over 10 years.

If the subsidies are not extended, 76% of respondents said they would blame Trump and Republicans in Congress. Broken down by party affiliation, 98% of Democrats and 82% of independents said they would blame Trump and the Republicans, but that number drops to 40% for Republicans and just 29% for MAGA supporters. Most Republicans (61%) said they would blame Democrats for a failure to extend the subsidies.

Number of the Day: ?

As a direct result of the government shutdown, the September employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was not released on Friday, denying analysts a key piece of data as they seek to understand the condition of the U.S. economy.

The lack of information comes at a particularly tricky time, a month after the August jobs report indicated that the labor market was slowing sharply. Economists are concerned about how President Trump's aggressive trade policy and immigration crackdown are affecting U.S. businesses and consumers, and the now-delayed September report would have provided an important piece of new information.

A report from payroll processor ADP released Wednesday showed that private employers cut 32,000 jobs last month. While the ADP report is not as comprehensive or reliable as the government report, it does suggest that the slowdown in the labor market has continued.

A separate report from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that hiring plans at U.S. employers were at the lowest level since 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis. "Right now, we're dealing with a stagnating labor market," the firm's Andy Challenger said. "With rate cuts on the way, we may see some stabilizing in the job market in the fourth quarter, but other factors could keep employers planning layoffs or holding off hiring."

The strength of the labor market is a key factor for the Federal Reserve as it determines interest rate policy, and policymakers will certainly be missing the latest report if it is still unavailable at the next meeting of the central bank scheduled for October 28-29. Fed Chair Jerome Powell cited softness in the labor market as a key factor in the decision to cut rates at the most recent meeting, while noting that the current combination of rising inflation and a weakening jobs market creates "a difficult situation for policymakers."

Oxford Economics Chief US Economist Ryan Sweet said this is a particularly bad time for the government to shut down, given the Fed's need for all the information it can get. "The Fed is always setting monetary policy in a data fog," Sweet told Yahoo Finance, "but then it just thickens when you're not getting the employment numbers."

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