The federal government partially shut down at midnight Wednesday, hours after all but three Senate Democrats voted down a short-term funding bill.
The federal government partially shut down at midnight Wednesday, hours after all but three Senate Democrats voted down a short-term funding bill.
The shutdown is the first since December 2018, which saw non-essential government operations cease and tens of thousands of federal employees furloughed or forced to work without pay for 35 days until lawmakers agreed on a stopgap funding measure.
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought notified federal department and agency heads shortly after Tuesday’s failed Senate vote to keep the government funded to begin preparations for a shutdown.
“[A]ffected agencies should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.” Vought wrote in a memo.
A House-passed bill – backed by virtually all Senate Republicans and President Trump – to keep the government open with funding at current levels until Nov. 21 failed to clear the 60-vote legislative filibuster in the upper chamber by five votes.
In his memo, Vought noted that it’s “unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict.”
Democratic congressional leadership refused to support the GOP measure unless provisions extending pandemic-era healthcare insurance subsidies and reinstating billions of dollars in funding for foreign aid and other programs cut by Trump were included.
The Senate adjourned shortly after the failed vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said lawmakers would try again Wednesday morning.
“I am hoping there are enough reasonable Democrats over there,” Thune said during an appearance on Fox News. “We picked up 3 tonight … we’re going to vote on it again tomorrow.”
“Hopefully, we’re going to pick up some more and eventually, we’ll get enough to pass this thing and keep the government open.”
Thune told “Jesse Watters Primetime” that he expects Senate Democrats “are going to start cracking because they realize this is a losing hand.
