The federal government has officially shut down after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure to keep the lights on – and no one inside the Capitol knows what will happen next.
A weekslong stalemate between Republicans and Democrats over enhanced Obamacare subsidies has turned into the first government shutdown since 2019. Leaders of both parties are privately and publicly adamant that they will not be blamed for the funding lapse. Republicans insist Democrats need to simply agree to extend current funding for another seven weeks. But Democrats refuse to do so without major concessions for lending their votes to pass any funding measure in the Senate.
Senators left the Capitol on Tuesday kra37 cc night in a state of deep uncertainty about how kra39 cc long the shutdown could last. The Senate is on track to vote again late Wednesday kra39 сс morning on the same GOP funding plan — which Republican leaders have vowed to put on the floor day after day until enough Democrats kra37 yield and agree to reopen the government. But many Democrats have declared publicly they will not relent, even as President Donald Trump and his budget office have ramped up threats to use the shutdown to further shrink the size of government — in some cases permanently.
“It’s going to be very harmful for working people,” a visibly exasperated GOP Sen. Josh Hawley told CNN moments after Democrats blocked the bill. “I don’t know how it ends. They don’t kra38 cc know how it ends,” he said. “You’re asking millions of people to pay a really high price.”