Senate Stalemate Extends US Government Shutdown into Second Week

Mon Oct 13 2025 21:33:36 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

As the ongoing government shutdown continues, the Senate fails to pass spending proposals, leaving essential government services in jeopardy and prompting discussions of potential layoffs.

The US Senate's repeated failure to agree on spending measures has extended the government shutdown into another week. Both Republican and Democratic proposals fell short of the necessary votes, with key disagreements centering on healthcare subsidies. The White House warns of possible layoffs and significant economic impacts if the stalemate persists.

US Senators have for a fourth time failed to pass spending proposals to reopen the federal government, extending the ongoing shutdown into next week.

Two separate spending proposals - one from the Democrats and one from Republicans - failed to reach the required 60-vote threshold.

With both sides deadlocked, the White House on Friday said it would be left with the unenviable task of mass lay-offs to keep essential government services operating if the shutdown continues, which Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described as fiscal sanity.

The scope of those potential lay-offs remains unclear, but the White House has been in discussions with the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have dug in their heels on the main point of disagreement: healthcare. Democrats have hoped to capitalize on the impasse to ensure health insurance subsidies for those with low incomes do not expire and reverse the Trump administration's cuts to the Medicaid health program.

Republicans, for their part, have repeatedly accused Democrats of shutting down the government in a bid to provide health care to undocumented immigrants - a charge that Democratic leaders have denied.

A total of 54 Senators voted in favor of a Republican-led proposal to fund the government, with 44 against and two not voting. A separate, Democrat-led proposal also failed, with 45 voting in favor and 52 against.

Both sides have continued to blame the other for the shutdown, with little sign of any progress in negotiations. We can vote and vote and vote, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley told the BBC. But it's up to basically five people.

During a news briefing at the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Democrats of holding Americans hostage over their demands.

The economic consequences of this shutdown are piling up every day, she added, noting that $15 billion in GDP could be lost each week as unemployment rises.

White House officials have repeatedly vowed to lay off federal workers if the shutdown continues, and earlier this week President Donald Trump stated he would meet with Russell Vought, who heads OMB, to examine which of the many Democrat agencies should be cut.

The White House has provided no scope or timeline for any potential lay-offs or cuts to agencies. Leavitt indicated that most of those cuts would come from agencies that do not align with this administration's values of putting our country first.

As part of the federal government's response to the shutdown, Vought announced the suspension of $2.1 billion in federal infrastructure funding for Chicago, in addition to the previous freezing of $18 billion in infrastructure spending in New York City and the cancellation of approximately $8 billion in funding for federal energy projects in some Democratic-run states.

On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asserted that Democrats are fighting the healthcare issue because we know Americans want this.

Early polls suggest that Americans are deeply divided on the shutdown, with one Washington Post survey indicating that 47% of US adults blame Republicans, compared to 30% who blame Democrats. Another 23% reported being unsure.