The U.S. Senate will take another vote on legislation to fund the government on Monday as a shutdown standoff between the two major parties enters its sixth day.
The shutdown began at 12:01 a.m. ET on Oct. 1, after Republicans and Democrats were unable to reach an agreement on keeping the government open. Despite taking several votes on competing funding options over the past week, neither side has garnered enough support for their proposal.
The Senate will vote again on Monday at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and President Donald Trump, are pursuing the passage of a “clean” funding extension, describing a bill without partisan attachments or other bill riders.
Both bills would extend funding for several weeks, punting the deadline to November as lawmakers continue work on 12 obligatory funding bills for various sectors of the government.
However, due to the Senate rules, Republicans need 60 votes to pass the bill, which means at least seven Democrats would need to agree.
So far, only three have backed Republicans’ proposal: Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats.
Most Democrats are instead demanding sweeping reforms to the health care funding changes wrapped into Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also voted against his party’s bill, meaning Thune may need the backing of another Democrats to pass the extension, unless Paul changes his vote.
In the most recent vote taken on the GOP proposal on Oct. 3, it failed 54–44. Democrats’ competing government funding, meanwhile, failed 46–52.
Since then, little seems to have changed as both sides remain entrenched in their position.
Administration Threatens Mass Layoffs
As the shutdown has dragged on, the administration has increased its threats to begin carrying out mass layoffs in the federal workforce.
A top White House economy official, Kevin Hassett, said on Oct. 5 that layoffs to the federal workforce could occur quickly if discussions with Democrats to reopen the government don’t lead to any progress.
Hassett, who heads the National Economic Council, said the administration and Republicans will negotiate their position to end the government shutdown but expressed hopes that the minority party comes to a compromise soon. If not, the layoffs will start, he said.
“I think that if the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere, then there will start to be layoffs,” Hassett told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Oct. 5.
Hassett said the White House believes that Democrats will “be reasonable once they get back into town on Monday,” in which case he would see “no reason for those layoffs.”
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that federal layoffs, or reduction-in-force actions, are coming “very soon.”
While speaking to reporters on Oct. 5, Trump blamed Democrats for any layoffs that occur because of the shutdown.
“It’s up to them,” Trump said. “Anybody laid off, that’s because of the Democrats.”
Democrats’ Demands
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have opposed the House-passed funding plan, demanding that the bill include a rollback of up to $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act over the summer in exchange for ending the shutdown.
Senate Democrats are also demanding an extension of enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and are due to expire at the end of the year.
“Everyone is about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays, and deductibles because of the Republican health care crisis. Everyone,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said during a news conference on Oct. 3.
Republicans have rejected Democrats’ demands, expressing openness to discussing the issue only after the government is reopened.
The White House on Friday reiterated its opposition to negotiating health care demands with Democrats right now.
“Democrats must reopen the government if they want to have meaningful policy debate,” White House spokesperson Kush Desa told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
He told reporters that addressing ACA credits was “going to take time, because this is going to be a very complicated issue to address.”
Centrists Looking for Compromise
While party leaders publicly dig in on their positions in the standoff, some moderate Senate Democrats and Republicans are trying to find an off-ramp.
On Wednesday, several senators met on the Senate floor to discuss a one-year extension of the Affordable Care Act-enhanced premium tax credits.
“I’m glad we’re talking,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) told reporters.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters that “a lot of people would really like to find a path forward.”
But like the administration, Rounds said that such a way forward “requires, first of all, to get the government open again. And then we start working on the issues that divide us.”
Other lawmakers expressed pessimism about the scope and seriousness of ongoing conversations between the two sides.
“Are there even talks? There may be a couple of members talking to each other,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told The Epoch Times.
“You have to wait till they come around,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) told reporters.
Thune has expressed optimism that the upcoming votes may go more favorably for Republicans, who are attempting to draw more centrist Democrats to back their clean funding extension.
Jackson Richman, Nathan Worcester, and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
This is all on the dems.