By MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO and STEPHEN GROVES, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican invoice to maintain funding the federal government, placing it on a close to sure path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday for the primary time in virtually seven years.
The 55-45 vote Tuesday on the invoice to increase federal funding for seven weeks fell wanting the 60 wanted to finish a filibuster and move the laws. It got here as Democrats are making good on their menace to shut the federal government if President Donald Trump and Republicans gained’t accede to their well being care calls for. Senate Democratic Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., mentioned Republicans try to “bully” Democrats by refusing to barter on an extension of well being care advantages and different priorities.
A authorities closure would imply that tons of of 1000’s of federal staff might be furloughed or laid off. Trump threatened retribution on Democrats for a possible shutdown, saying Tuesday that it might embody “cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”
As a substitute of negotiating, Democrats and Republicans angrily blamed one another Tuesday and refused to budge from their positions.
“It’s only the president who can do this. We know he runs the show here,” Schumer mentioned Tuesday morning, after a bipartisan White Home assembly the day earlier than yielded little progress. “Republicans have until midnight tonight to get serious with us,” Schumer mentioned.
Trump and his fellow Republicans mentioned they gained’t entertain any modifications to the laws, arguing that it’s a stripped-down, “clean” invoice that must be noncontroversial.
Senate Majority Chief John Thune. R-S.D., mentioned Republicans “are not going to be held hostage” by the Democrats’ calls for. The GOP-led Home was on a weeklong recess, unavailable for quick votes even when the Senate did discover bipartisan settlement. And much from coming into into negotiations, Trump as an alternative posted a faux, mocking video of Democrats on Monday night after the White Home assembly.
A partisan standoff over well being care and spending is threatening to set off the primary U.S. authorities shutdown in virtually seven years, on the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photograph/J. Scott Applewhite)
After Tuesday’s votes, it was more and more unlikely that both facet would blink earlier than the deadline.
Blame recreation escalates
Whereas partisan stalemates over authorities spending are a frequent prevalence in Washington, the present deadlock comes as Democrats see a uncommon alternative to make use of their leverage to attain coverage objectives and as their base voters are spoiling for a struggle with Trump. Republicans who maintain a 53-47 majority within the Senate wanted no less than eight votes from Democrats after Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky opposed the invoice.
Nonetheless, Schumer mentioned Trump and Republicans can be guilty if the federal government shuts down.
Thune mentioned earlier than the vote that he was “hoping there are Democrats out there who are reasonable and understand what’s at stake here.”
The final shutdown was in Trump’s first time period, from December 2018 to January 2019, when he demanded that Congress give him cash for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. Trump retreated after 35 days — the longest shutdown ever — amid intensifying airport delays and missed paydays for federal staff.
Democrats’ well being care asks
Tens of millions of individuals might face increased insurance coverage premiums if the well being care subsidies expire on the finish of the yr. Congress first put them in place in 2021, through the COVID-19 pandemic, to broaden protection for low- and middle-income individuals who buy medical insurance by way of the Inexpensive Care Act.
Democrats have mentioned they need the subsidies instantly prolonged. They’ve additionally demanded that Republicans reverse the Medicaid cuts that had been enacted as part of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” this summer time and for the White Home to vow it is not going to transfer to rescind spending handed by Congress.
“We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of everyday Americans,” Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned.
Thune pressed Democrats to vote for the funding invoice and take up the talk on tax credit later. Some Republicans are open to extending the tax credit, however many are strongly against it.
In uncommon, pointed back-and-forth with Schumer on the Senate flooring Tuesday morning, Thune mentioned Republicans “are happy to fix the ACA issue” and have provided to barter with Democrats — if they are going to vote to maintain the federal government open till Nov. 21.
No settlement on the White Home
The bipartisan assembly on the White Home on Monday was Trump’s first with all 4 leaders in Congress since retaking the White Home for his second time period. Schumer mentioned the group “had candid, frank discussions” about well being care and the potential for medical insurance prices to skyrocket as soon as expanded Inexpensive Care Act tax credit expire Dec. 31.
However Trump didn’t look like prepared for critical talks. Hours later, he posted a faux video of Schumer and Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries taken from footage of their actual press convention outdoors of the White Home after the assembly. Within the altered video, a voiceover that seems like Schumer’s voice makes enjoyable of Democrats and Jeffries stands beside him with a cartoon sombrero and mustache. Mexican music performs within the background.
Schumer mentioned that “we have less than a day to figure this out” and Trump is trolling on the web “like a 10-year-old.”
A crucial, and strange, vote for Democrats
Democrats are in an uncomfortable place for a celebration that has lengthy denounced shutdowns as pointless and damaging, and it’s unclear how or when it could finish. However social gathering activists and lawmakers have argued that Democrats have to do one thing to face as much as Trump.
The U.S. Capitol is photographed after a information convention, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, on the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photograph/Mariam Zuhaib)
“The level of appeasement that Trump demands never ends,” mentioned Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “We’ve seen that with universities, with law firms, with prosecutors. So is there a point where you just have to stand up to him? I think there is.”
Some teams referred to as for Schumer’s resignation in March after he and 9 different Democrats voted to interrupt a filibuster and permit a Republican-led funding invoice to advance to a remaining vote.
Schumer mentioned then that he voted to maintain the federal government open as a result of a shutdown would have made issues worse as Trump’s administration was slashing authorities jobs. He says now that he believes issues have modified, together with the passage this summer time of the large GOP tax minimize invoice that decreased Medicaid.
Shutdown preparations start
The stakes are enormous for federal staff throughout the nation because the White Home informed companies final week that they need to think about “a reduction in force” for many federal packages if the federal government shuts down. That implies that staff who usually are not deemed important might be fired as an alternative of simply furloughed.
Both manner, most wouldn’t receives a commission. The nonpartisan Congressional Price range Workplace estimated in a letter to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst on Tuesday that round 750,000 federal staff might be furloughed every day as soon as a shutdown begins.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, mentioned among the many federal staff in his state assist a shutdown.
“What I hear from federal workers is they’ve been on a slow, shutdown firing since the beginning of this administration,” Warner mentioned. “They want us to push back.”
Federal companies had been already making ready. On the house web page of the Division of Housing and City Growth, a big pop up advert reads, “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people.”
Related Press writers Seung Min Kim, Kevin Freking, Matthew Brown, Darlene Superville and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.
Initially Revealed: September 30, 2025 at 7:48 AM EDT
