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THE United States government shutdown will stretch into next week after the Senate adjourned without reaching agreement on a funding measure, marking the fourth consecutive failure to advance either party’s proposal to reopen federal agencies.
The New York Times reported Senator John Thune, the Republican majority leader, stating that his party would not concede to Democratic demands to link the spending bill to health care concessions.
As no breakthrough appears imminent, the earliest a vote to end the shutdown could now occur is Monday.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that the House will not reconvene as scheduled. “We’re not going to bring the House back until the Senate acts,” he told reporters, adding that the Republican stopgap spending bill remains on the table.
The shutdown has taken on a sharply partisan tone, with reports suggesting the White House is actively seeking to escalate pressure on political opponents.
This includes the potential dismissal of large numbers of federal employees and the cancellation of over US$7.5 billion in pre-approved Energy Department funding, mostly targeting Democratic-led states.
“Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. I mean, yes, because that’s what U.S. President Donald Trump does, and people are having fun with this,” said Johnson, referring to the funding cuts. “But, at the end of the day, the decisions are tough ones.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers’ union, filed a lawsuit on Friday, accusing the Trump administration of inserting overtly partisan language into furloughed workers' out-of-office email messages without consent.
The deadlock is not driven by disputes over specific spending items. Rather, Democrats are pressing Republicans to include over US$1 trillion in health care funding and curbs on President Trump’s discretionary spending authority.
Amid the impasse, far-right Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed her own party for the stalemate. “If Republican Senators wanted to pass the C.R. and reopen the government they could, by using the nuclear option,” she posted on social media.
The so-called “nuclear option” would reduce the Senate’s 60-vote threshold for advancing legislation to a simple majority. While such a move has been used in the past for judicial and executive nominees, it remains controversial and unlikely to be adopted for all legislation, particularly at Greene’s urging.
Greene also accused Republican leaders of supporting temporary policies vulnerable to reversal by a future Democratic administration. “You should be demanding Congress do its job that the Constitution requires. Legislate!!!” she wrote.
Known for promoting conspiracy theories and inflammatory rhetoric, Greene’s calls to abolish the filibuster are unlikely to gain traction, though they echo similar proposals from both Republican and Democratic senators in recent years.
Despite Republican dominance in both chambers, divisions within the party—coupled with demands from Democrats—have left federal workers unpaid and critical services stalled. - October 4, 2025