The U.S. Senate adjourned for the day on Wednesday with no resolution on how to reopen the government.<\/p>\n
Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown. A vote to end the government shutdown<\/a> failed earlier Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party\u2019s demands to fund health care<\/a> subsidies that President Donald Trump<\/a> and Republicans refuse to extend.<\/p>\n At issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn\u2019t extend them \u2014 which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to a KFF analysis.<\/p>\n Senators will return Friday, after a break for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, to vote again on a GOP measure to extend federal funding for seven weeks.<\/p>\n A top Air Force commander announces retirement on social media<\/p>\n Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, announced his \u201cdifficult decision to request retirement from the United States Air Force for personal and family reasons\u201d in a post on his command\u2019s Facebook page late Tuesday.<\/p>\n He had been tapped to take over as the service\u2019s No. 2 uniformed officer after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suddenly fired the general in that job without explanation in February. The Air Force didn\u2019t respond to questions seeking more information about Bussiere\u2019s decision to retire.<\/p>\n Bussiere\u2019s announcement came the same day Hegseth told a gathering of top military leaders that if they disagreed with his approach to leading the nation\u2019s military, \u201cthen you should do the honorable thing and resign.\u201d<\/p>\n Some furloughed employees\u2019 out-of-office replies reset to have language blaming Democrats for shutdown<\/p>\n Out-of-office email messages for furloughed employees at the Education Department were reset Wednesday with language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cOn September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution,\u201d the message said. \u201cUnfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations.\u201d<\/p>\n Some employees tried to change it to something nonpartisan only to see it reverted back, according to an employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n Some viewed it as a violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees. But people were unable to file complaints because the website for the department\u2019s Inspector General is down during the shutdown. The watchdog\u2019s website has been replaced with a short message: \u201cDue to a lack of apportionment of funds, this website is currently unavailable.\u201d<\/p>\n The US military has long been an engine of social change. Hegseth\u2019s approach runs counter to that<\/p>\n \u201cThe military has often been ahead of at least some broader social, cultural, political movements,\u201d said Ronit Stahl, associate professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. \u201dThe desegregation of the armed forces is perhaps the most classic example.\u201d<\/p>\n President Harry S. Truman\u2019s desegregation order in 1948 came six years before the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education case \u2014 and, Stahl said, \u201cthat obviously takes a long time to implement, if it ever fully is implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump administration not furloughing workers needed for oil, gas, coal approvals<\/p>\n The Department of Interior is keeping on employees needed to approve fossil fuel projects<\/a> during the shutdown.<\/p>\n The agency is exempting from widespread furloughs employees who work on oil, gas and coal leases<\/a> and permits, according to contingency plans for Interior\u2019s Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management.<\/p>\n That would allow the administration to push ahead with plans to spur more drilling and mining<\/a> by private companies on public lands and in the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n The land bureau plan cites a \u201cNational Energy Emergency\u201d that critics accuse the Trump administration of fabricating to further its energy agenda.<\/p>\n About one quarter of the land bureau\u2019s employees and most of the ocean bureau\u2019s employees would be furloughed for the shutdown, the plans show.<\/p>\n Lessons from past shutdowns<\/p>\n In 2018, the government shut down for three days as Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, insisted that any budget measure come with protections for young immigrants<\/a> known as \u201cDreamers\u201d under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They voted to reopen after then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised only a vote on the issue.<\/p>\n Later that year, Trump forced a shutdown<\/a> over funding for his border wall and retreated after 35 days as delays at the nation\u2019s airports intensified and hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed paydays.<\/p>\n Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Republicans triggered a shutdown in 2013<\/a> over Obama\u2019s health care law. Bipartisan negotiations in the Senate finally ended the shutdown after 16 days, and Republicans did not win any major concessions on health care.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think shutdowns benefit anybody, least of all the American people,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n What Americans think of Congress<\/p>\n Congress had few fans with the American public, even before the shutdown.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to find an American who has \u201ca great deal\u201d of confidence in the way Congress is being run, according to AP-NORC polling<\/a>. Only 6% said they had a high level of confidence in the people running Congress in polling from this summer. About half had \u201conly some\u201d and 44% had hardly any confidence in how Congress was being run.<\/p>\n Confidence tends to be low among Democrats and Republicans, regardless of which party is in power. About 10% of Republicans had \u201ca great deal\u201d of confidence in Congress, compared to 2% of Democrats.<\/p>\n Looming health insurance spikes for millions are at the heart of the government shutdown<\/p>\n A record 24 million people<\/a> have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, in large part because billions of dollars in subsidies have made the plans more affordable for many.<\/p>\n With the expanded subsidies in place, some lower-income enrollees can get health care with no premiums, and high earners pay no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners is also expanded.<\/p>\n When the tax credits expire at the end of 2025, enrollees across the income spectrum will see costs spike. Annual out-of-pocket premiums are estimated to increase by 114% \u2014 an average of $1,016 \u2014 next year, according to an analysis by KFF.<\/p>\n Democrats have insisted an extension of the health subsidies needs to be negotiated immediately as people are beginning to receive notices of premium increases for next year.<\/p>\n At the White House on Monday, congressional Democratic leaders shared their health care concerns with Trump. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> said after the meeting that Trump \u201cwas not aware\u201d that so many Americans would see increases to their health care costs.<\/p>\n Shutdown adds to the stress on air traffic controllers and the aviation safety net<\/p>\n The government shutdown puts even more stress on the system that keeps planes safe when air traffic controllers are already stretched thin and relying on outdated equipment that breaks often.<\/p>\n The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, said a shutdown that forces air traffic controllers to work without a paycheck only adds to the stress.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re out there working right now with critical staffing \u2014 the lowest staffing we\u2019ve had in decades of only 10,800, where there should be 14,633. And on top of that, they\u2019re working with unreliable equipment,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cAnything that adds to that stress and pressure absolutely puts them in a position to not be able to operate at their peak performance.\u201d<\/p>\n During the last shutdown that drug on for 35 days, some controllers even got second jobs to help make ends meet.<\/p>\n If the system can\u2019t handle all the flights scheduled safely, the FAA will impose restrictions, leading to more delays and cancellations for travelers.<\/p>\n WIC can maintain normal services for 1 to 2 weeks in most states<\/p>\n Funding for the $8 billion program that provides food assistance to pregnant women, babies and young children is almost depleted, but states likely have enough resources to maintain normal operations for one to two weeks during a government shutdown.<\/p>\n That includes new enrollments in most states in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, according to Ali Hard, policy director for the National WIC Association. One state, Mississippi, has halted applications during the shutdown, according to a web posting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe feel good about one to two weeks,\u201d Hard said. \u201cAfter that, we are very worried.\u201d<\/p>\n The program serves nearly 7 million women and children per month, about half of those eligible in the U.S.<\/p>\n Trump spoke to emir of Qatar as administration continues reassurance effort<\/p>\n The president spoke to Qatar\u2019s ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Wednesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n The White House did not offer details about the call, but it came hours after the administration published a notification that Trump this week issued an executive order vowing to use U.S. military action, if needed, to defend Qatar.<\/p>\n IRS watchdog: Workforce cuts will impact 2026 tax season<\/p>\n Treasury\u2019s Inspector General said while the 2025 tax filing was successful with several key improvements, the IRS watchdog has concerns about how Department of Government Efficiency cuts earlier this year will impact the 2026 Filing Season.<\/p>\n \u201cKey IRS functions responsible for managing the filing season have lost 17 to 19 percent of their workforce\u201d as a result of the cuts, the report released Wednesday states.<\/p>\n It also points out how new legislation will put added strains on the agency.<\/p>\n The report says the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will require the IRS to make substantial changes ahead of the 2026 Filing Season, \u201cbut the agency will have fewer Information Technology resources to timely update processing systems.\u201d<\/p>\n San Francisco-led coalition sues Trump over \u2018unconstitutional\u2019 conditions tied to disaster funding<\/p>\n A coalition of cities and counties largely in California are suing the Department of Homeland Security for conditioning $350 million in federal disaster prep funding on acquiescence to the Trump administration\u2019s policies on immigration and diversity.<\/p>\n In a complaint filed Tuesday in California, local officials say they now must \u201ceither accept conditions that are unconstitutional and contrary to law, or lose millions of dollars\u201d from the Federal Emergency Management Agency used to prepare for and mitigate disasters.<\/p>\n San Francisco and Santa Clara County are leading the coalition of 29 local governments, which also includes Los Angeles, several Washington state counties and Tucson, Arizona. The FEMA grant money is used for a variety of needs, such as bomb-defusing equipment, training for emergency personnel and preparing for major events, including Super Bowl LX and the FIFA World Cup next year.<\/p>\n The Trump administration wants local governments to assist with federal immigration enforcement and reject programs that promote diversity and equity.<\/p>\n Rep. Pocan challenges Republican claims about Democrats\u2019 health care proposals<\/p>\n Rep. Mark Pocan, a progressive Democrat from Wisconsin, is urging fellow Democrats and activists on the left to aggressively call out Republicans for falsely saying that the shutdown is about whether to give health care benefits to people in the U.S. illegally.<\/p>\n It has been a longstanding federal policy that immigrants without legal status are ineligible for federally-funded health care coverage.<\/p>\n \u201cCall it out,\u201d Pocan said, using an expletive to characterize the attacks by Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP members of Congress.<\/p>\n Pocan said states policies like those California extend some Medicaid coverage to residents regardless of their immigration status.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not federal dollars,\u201d he said, emphasizing that federal law bars federal money from Medicare, Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act from going to people without legal status.<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader says he\u2019s waiting on senators for government funding fix<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that his message for senators trying to cobble together a bipartisan solution for funding the government is \u201cwhen you have critical mass, come and talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n That means any bipartisan fix will need support from at least eight Democrats.<\/p>\n Thune, a South Dakota Republican, gave no sign a negotiation was happening among leaders and appeared resigned to allowing the funding bill to sit in the Senate for at least several days.<\/p>\n Senate adjourns with no resolution on shutdown<\/p>\n The Senate adjourned for the day on Wednesday with no resolution on how to reopen the government.<\/p>\n The government shut down Wednesday at 12:01 a.m. after Democratic senators voted against a Republican bill to extend funding for seven weeks. They argue it should include funding to extend health care subsidies.<\/p>\n Senators will return Friday, after a break for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, to vote again on the GOP measure.<\/p>\n On video screens at the White House, the Trump administration again shares videos depicting Jeffries in sombrero<\/p>\n The videos, which had been shared by Trump shared on social media and were widely condemned as racist, began playing on monitors in the briefing room Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n One deepfake video has Schumer implying that Democrats seek to give free health care to immigrants in the country illegally while Jeffries, standing beside him, is depicted as wearing a Mexican sombrero and fake mustache. A second video, showing a clip of Jeffries condemning the first as \u201cdisgusting,\u201d again depicts him that way.<\/p>\n It is Hispanic Heritage Month.<\/p>\n The minority leader responded with a meme of his own superimposing an image of Vance with a fat head and curly, long hair on a video of him in the briefing room earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cJD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme. Not happening Bro,\u201d Jeffries wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n More federal agencies publicly blame Democrats for the shutdown, while others stay neutral<\/p>\n At least eight federal agencies are publicly blaming the government shutdown on Democrats or the left, a move critics say misuses U.S. government websites in a partisan messaging war.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, several other agencies have posted neutral messages on their websites, noting the lapse in appropriations may disrupt some services.<\/p>\n The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Tuesday on its website blamed the \u201cRadical Left\u201d for any potential shutdown. By Wednesday, similarly-toned messages had popped up on at least seven other agency websites, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n Some questioned whether the postings violated the Hatch Act, an 80-year-old law that restricts partisan political activity by federal employees. HUD officials pushed back on claims their post violated the law, noting the banner did not refer to an election, and did not mention any party or politician by name.<\/p>\n Democrat blames \u2018far left\u2019 for government shutdown<\/p>\n Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine faulted leftwing groups for causing the government shutdown and said it\u2019s hurting working people in his state.<\/p>\n Golden, a moderate Democrat, said in a statement the shutdown \u201cis the result of hardball politics driven by the demands far-left groups are making for Democratic Party leaders to put on a show of their opposition to President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n He said some Republicans have \u201creasonable concerns about tax credits going to high-income households\u201d and there\u2019s still time to broker a deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s room and time to negotiate. But normal policy disagreements are no reason to subject our constituents to the continued harm of this shutdown,\u201d Golden said.<\/p>\n Golden also said he felt the shutdown hands more power President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Pharmaceutical drug tariffs coming for companies not opening US plants<\/p>\n The Trump administration sees the president\u2019s threat last week to put 100% import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs as jumpstarting new investments in domestic manufacturing.<\/p>\n Trump did threaten to impose tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs starting on Wednesday, but there has yet to be an executive order signed by the president doing so. The reasoning to hold off on tariffs is that companies are being given time to reduce the prices they sell their products for in the U.S. to match the lowest prices charged in other industrialized nations, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity to describe the administration\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n The thought is that the tariffs are forcing concessions by pharmaceutical drug companies as evidenced on Tuesday by Pfizer, which received a three-year grace period on tariffs after announcing price reductions and a $70 billion investment in its American operations.<\/p>\n White House not immune from effects of government shutdown<\/p>\n A \u201csignificant number\u201d of staff who work in the Executive Office of the President were furloughed, while Trump\u2019s senior staff and some commissioned officers continue to work, Leavitt said.<\/p>\n Critical White House functions continue, and many executive offices are operating with skeleton staffing, she said, including the press office.<\/p>\n But concerned citizens and others won\u2019t be able to get through to the White House switchboard or comment line until the shutdown ends. Both have recorded messages explaining why no one is answering the phone.<\/p>\n \u201cWe apologize, but due to the lapse in federal funding we are unable to take your call. Once funding has been restored, our operations will resume. Please call back at that time,\u201d the White House switchboard says.<\/p>\n Progressive lawmaker Mark Pocan says Republicans can\u2019t be trusted on \u2018clean\u2019 spending bill<\/p>\n Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin, said Wednesday that Republicans are being disingenuous in their demands that Democrats support a so-called \u201cclean CR\u201d bill that would reopen government at current spending levels because they could just turn around and further slash government as soon as it reopens.<\/p>\n Pocan said a conference call with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee that Republicans used what\u2019s called a \u201crecission\u201d process this summer to cut $9 billion of foreign aid and support for public broadcasting that Congress already had approved. Republicans did that after Democrats in March agreed to a continuing resolution that avoided a government shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cThey broke their agreement by letting the president steal funds through recission,\u201d Pocan said. \u201cThat\u2019s not a continuing resolution\u201d in practice, he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to get lost in process, but if you can\u2019t trust the people you\u2019re negotiating with … it makes it very hard to have those negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n Many blamed Trump for the last partial government shutdown<\/p>\n