In a polarized Washington, with the chambers narrowly divided, shutdown threats have become a feature of recent congressional budget battles. A standoff in 2018, during Trump\u2019s first term, resulted in a 34-day shutdown, the longest in the modern era. At the time, roughly 800,000 of the federal government\u2019s 2.1 million employees were sidelined without pay.<\/p>\n
Senate Republicans<\/a> have scheduled another round of votes on the two funding bills on Wednesday morning, with the stated goal of giving Democrats an opportunity to change their minds.<\/p>\n The Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> and Chuck Schumer have blamed Donald Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, saying they \u201cdo not want to protect the healthcare of the American people\u201d.<\/p>\n The White House has responded to the shutdown threat by announcing plans to fire federal workers en masse if funding lapses. \u201cWhen you shut it down, you have to do layoffs, so we\u2019d be laying off a lot of people,\u201d Donald Trump<\/a> said earlier on Tuesday, adding: \u201cThey\u2019re going to be Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Russ Vought, director of the White House office of management and budget, released a letter blaming \u201cDemocrats\u2019 insane policy demands\u201d for a shutdown. \u201cIt is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict,\u201d Vought wrote in the letter, which was addressed to the heads of federal offices and agencies.<\/p>\n Democratic leaders say they are not backing down, but signs have emerged of dissent within their ranks. Three members of the Democratic caucus voted for the Republican proposal on Tuesday evening \u2013 two more than when the bill was first considered earlier this month. \u201cI cannot support a costly shutdown that would hurt Nevada families and hand even more power to this reckless administration,\u201d said Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto.<\/p>\n We will bring you the latest news and reactions on the shutdown as we get them.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n In the stock markets, European stocks and gold prices rose, while Wall Street futures fell on Wednesday as the US government shut down after lawmakers failed to reach a funding deal.<\/p>\n The prospect of services in the United States being closed pushed gold to another record high over $3,895, reports AFP.<\/p>\n In Asia, Tokyo\u2019s stock market sank, while Hong Kong and Shanghai were closed for holidays.<\/p>\n European markets were lifted by pharmaceutical shares after Pfizer was granted reprieve from President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs by agreeing to lower drug prices in the United States. Trump also announced plans to unveil a website to allow consumers to directly purchase some medications from manufacturers at discounted rates.<\/p>\n The dollar remained under pressure on concerns caused by the US government beginning to shut down Wednesday. Democrats and Republicans failed to break a budget impasse, with talks hinging on health care funding.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically shutdowns have been bad for the US dollar, bad for US equities, and bad for bonds too,\u201d said Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown. \u201cShould the shutdown remain unresolved it is likely to drive money outside of the US to markets with more certainty,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n While most shutdowns end after a short period, investors were concerned it could prevent the release Friday of the key non-farm payrolls report \u2013 a crucial guide for the Fed on rate decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cShutdowns have delivered bouts of volatility, but the precedent has been that weakness tends to be short-lived,\u201d noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.<\/p>\n Futures on all three main indexes in New York were in the red.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mocked US president Donald Trump<\/a>, saying that the United States had not sent nuclear submarines to Russian shores as Trump had promised.<\/p>\n Trump on Tuesday cast Medvedev as \u201ca stupid person\u201d and said that he had moved a \u201csubmarine or two\u201d to the coast of Russia. He said in August that he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be moved to the \u201cappropriate regions\u201d in response to threats from Medvedev.<\/p>\n \u201cNew episode of the thriller series,\u201d Medvedev said on X in English. \u201cTrump once again brought up the subs he allegedly \u2018sent to the Russian shores\u2019 insisting they are \u2018very well hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs the saying goes, it\u2019s hard to find a black cat in a dark room – especially if it\u2019s not there,\u201d Medvedev said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Naveed Shah, a veteran and activist who served as an enlisted public affairs specialist \u2013 an army journalist \u2013 uncharacteristically found himself searching for words to describe the address<\/a> of the newly styled secretary of war to flag officers on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the words that are coming to me aren\u2019t fit to print,\u201d said Shah, policy director for Common Defense, a veterans advocacy organization. \u201cThe people in that room who have served for 20, 30-plus years in uniform do not need Pete Hegseth<\/a> to tell them about warrior ethos.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s hour-long Ted talk-style address touching on physical fitness, the doctrine of lethality and the perils of DEI certainly drew more attention than a policy memo might have, and perhaps more than Donald Trump\u2019s rambling, politically charged hour-long speech that followed.<\/p>\n But the attention came at the cost of respect, said Dana Pittard, a retired army general who commanded soldiers in Iraq and co-author of Hunting the Caliphate<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was insulting,\u201d Pittard said of the address, rejecting Hegseth\u2019s assertion that senior officers of color \u2013 like himself \u2013 had benefitted from a non-existent quota system for promotions.<\/p>\n Online chatter in military groups ahead of the unprecedented, secrecy-shrouded meeting of 800 generals and admirals called to Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia had revolved around a demand for some loyalty oath to the administration, or public firings or a declaration of war. Some described it as karmic revenge for decades of mandatory hour-long safety briefings held by unit commanders before dismissing troops for the weekend. Many also wondered if the expensive challenge to security could have been an email.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, addressing the troops could be useful or beneficial, but to call 800-plus generals and senior enlisted advisers from around the world into this room just before a government shutdown? It\u2019s not just bad optics or strategy,\u201d Shah said. \u201cA bad cold could have threatened our entire chain of command.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ramon Antonio Vargas<\/p>\n Retired US supreme court justice Anthony Kennedy<\/a> fears \u201cdemocracy is not guaranteed to survive\u201d as \u201cpartisanship is becoming much more prevalent and more bitter\u201d in the legal opinions coming from his former institution, he tells NPR in an upcoming interview.<\/p>\n Strikingly, for the interview set to publish in October, NPR\u2019s Nina Totenberg said she asked Kennedy whether he was still sure the supreme court\u2019s major decisions would remain intact \u2013 as he told a small group of journalists that he was when he retired in 2018 during Donald Trump\u2019s first presidency.<\/p>\n NPR reported that Kennedy \u201cdemurred\u201d, seven years after that prediction \u2013 and three years after the federal abortion rights once granted by the Roe v Wade ruling were eliminated by a supreme court with a conservative supermajority anchored by three Trump appointments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe live in an era where reasoned, thoughtful, rational, respectful discourse has been replaced by antagonistic, confrontational conversation,\u201d Kennedy, who was appointed to the supreme court during Ronald Reagan\u2019s presidency, remarked.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems to me the idea of partisanship is becoming much more prevalent and more bitter. And my concern is that the court in its own opinions \u2026 has to be asked to moderate and become much more respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n Kennedy, who during three decades on the supreme court bench earned a reputation as a moderately conservative and authored the majority opinion legalizing same-sex marriage, ominously added: \u201cDemocracy is not guaranteed to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Those comments from Kennedy came as he prepared to release a new memoir titled Life, Law & Liberty on 14 October. His statements also arrived as the supreme court was scheduled to begin a nine-month term on 6 October \u2013 during which it may weigh in on a request to overturn the 5-4 Obergefell supreme court decision that legalized marriage for same-sex couples nationwide in 2015.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Under the shutdown, the education department will stop its investigations into schools and universities over alleged civil rights violations.<\/p>\n Since the mass layoffs in March, the office has operated under a significantly reduced footprint. The department\u2019s civil rights branch lost about half of its staff. The cuts raised questions about whether the office would be able to shrink a backlog of complaints from students who allege they have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, sex or disability status, AP reports.<\/p>\n The department\u2019s own data has shown a decline in resolving civil rights cases, while new complaints from families have increased. During the shutdown, work on the pending cases will stop.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Already diminished by cuts by the Trump administration<\/a>, the US education department will see more of its work come to a halt due to the government shutdown.<\/p>\n The department says many of its core operations will continue in the shutdown kicking off Wednesday. Federal financial aid will keep flowing, and student loan payments will still be due.<\/p>\n But investigations into civil rights complaints will stop, and the department will not issue new federal grants, AP reports. About 87% of its workforce will be furloughed, according to a department contingency plan.<\/p>\n AP reports:<\/p>\n Since he took office, president Donald Trump has called for the dismantling of the education department, saying it has been overrun by liberal thinking. Agency leaders have been making plans to parcel out its operations to other departments, and in July the supreme court upheld mass layoffs that halved the department\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n In a shutdown, the administration has suggested federal agencies could see more positions eliminated entirely. In past shutdowns, furloughed employees were brought back once Congress restored federal funding. This time, the White House\u2019s Office of Management and Budget has threatened the mass firing of federal workers.<\/p>\n Appearing before the House Appropriations Committee in May, Education Secretary Linda McMahon suggested this year\u2019s layoffs had made her department lean \u2013 even too lean in some cases. Some staffers were brought back, she said, after officials found that the cuts went too deep.<\/p>\n \u201cYou hope that you\u2019re just cutting fat. Sometimes you cut a little muscle, and you realize it as you\u2019re continuing your programs, and you can bring people back to do that,\u201d McMahon said. The department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office in January. It now has about 2,500.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> The US government shut down on Wednesday, after congressional Democrats<\/a> refused to support a Republican plan to extend funding for federal departments unless they won a series of concessions centered on healthcare.<\/p>\n The GOP, which controls the Senate and the House of Representatives, repudiated their demands, setting off a legislative scramble that lasted into the hours before funding lapsed at midnight, when the Senate failed to advance both parties\u2019 bills to keep funding going.<\/p>\n The shutdown is the first since a 35-day closure that began in December 2018 and extended into the new year, during Trump\u2019s first term. It comes as Democrats look to regain their footing with voters, who re-elected Trump last year and relegated them to the minority in both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans are plunging America into a shutdown, rejecting bipartisan talks, pushing a partisan bill and risking America\u2019s healthcare,\u201d top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer<\/a> said on Tuesday evening, as it became clear a shutdown was inevitable.<\/p>\n Last month, House Republicans passed a bill<\/a> that would fund the government through 21 November, but it requires the support of some Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the Senate. It failed to gain that support in votes held late on Tuesday, while Republicans also blocked a Democratic proposal to continue funding through October while also making an array of policy changes.<\/p>\n \u201cFar-left interest groups and far-left Democrat members wanted to show down with the president, and so Senate Democrats<\/a> have sacrificed the American people to Democrats\u2019 partisan interests,\u201d Senate majority leader John Thune said.<\/p>\n Senate Republicans<\/a> have scheduled another round of votes on the two funding bills on Wednesday morning, with the stated goal of giving Democrats an opportunity to change their minds.<\/p>\n The White House has responded to the shutdown threat by announcing plans to fire federal workers en masse if funding lapses. \u201cWhen you shut it down, you have to do layoffs, so we\u2019d be laying off a lot of people,\u201d Donald Trump<\/a> said earlier on Tuesday, adding: \u201cThey\u2019re going to be Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n National Parks will largely remain partially open even as the federal government shuts down. A plan released late on Tuesday<\/a>, hours before the shutdown was set to begin, outlined how swaths of land not able to be locked down \u2013 including open-air memorials, park roads, and trails \u2013 will remain accessible to the public.<\/p>\n The document also detailed that more than 9,200 employees will be furloughed, reducing staff by roughly 64%. Only workers deemed necessary to protect \u201clife and property\u201d, will remain on duty.<\/p>\n The former superintendent of Joshua Tree national park said in 2019 the park could take hundreds of years to recover from damage caused by visitors during the 2018-19 shutdown.<\/p>\n In 2013, an estimated 8 million recreation visits and $414 million were lost during the 16-day shutdown, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, citing National Park Service data. During the most recent shutdown in 2019, many parks remained open though no visitor services were provided. The Park Service lost $400,000 a day from missed entrance fee revenue, according to the association\u2019s estimates. What\u2019s more, park visitors would have typically spent $20 million on an average January day in nearby communities.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s video desk has compiled this video as Republicans and Democrats blame each other for the shutdown.<\/p>\n Workers who were furloughed during the 2018-19 shutdown shared their stories with the Guardian in 2019<\/a>. One, Leisyka Parrott, a furloughed employee with the Bureau of Land Management said: \u201cThe thing is when you get back pay, all the fees that you incur by missing payments \u2013 you don\u2019t get paid back for those. If you are late for a payment and have a $25 fee, the government doesn\u2019t pay for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s all kinds of issues with raising families, just buying gasoline,\u201d said Franco DiCroce, a US army corps of engineers employee speaking in his capacity as president of Local 98 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers told the Guardian. \u201cMost of these people, their salaries are not skyrocketing. They\u2019re suffering even more, because some of them live check-to-check, so if they don\u2019t have money coming in, they\u2019re going to have difficulty meeting their needs, to even buy groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n Many turned to food banks in order to eat. \u201cYou\u2019ve worked for 10, 20, 30 years for the government,\u201d said Nurel Storey<\/a>, an officer for the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 22. \u201cAnd all of a sudden things have just been shut off, for no fault of your own.\u201d<\/p>\n A person collects milk and food from Food Bank employee at a food donation site set up for furloughed federal workers in January 2019. Photograph: Justin Lane\/EPAShare<\/a><\/p>\n The 35-day partial shutdown of the US government that started in 2018 cost about $11bn and shaved 0.2% off the nation\u2019s annual economic growth forecasts, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said in January 2019.<\/p>\n![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/George-Chidi.jpg\")
George Chidi<\/p>\n![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Chris_Stein.png\")
Chris Stein<\/p>\n![\"Republicans](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4455.jpg\")
Republicans and Democrats blame each other as US government shuts down \u2013 videoShare<\/a><\/p>\n