Government Shutdown to Drag into Next Week, with House Out until Oct. 14

With each side digging in, the shutdown will continue until at least next week. There are no public signs of talks between the leaders of the two parties. The Senate won't take any more votes until Monday and the House has canceled all votes for next week, with no plans to return to Washington until Oct. 14.

Republican leaders maintain that they won't negotiate and that Democrats must accept the GOP's short-term bill, which would reopen the government and buy time for discussions on a larger government funding package.

"They have taken hostage the federal government and, by extension, the American people, who are the only losers in this," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a news conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in the Capitol on Friday.

“What’s in the best interest of the American people is keeping the government open and operating, so it can continue to work on their behalf,” he said.

But Democrats say they won't give their votes for nothing after the bill was written without their input. They feel validated after four recent national polls show Americans blaming US President Donald Trump and Republicans more than they blame Democrats for the shutdown.

"Donald Trump and the Republicans own this shutdown," Schumer said on X.

If the government is still shuttered on Monday, this shutdown will be the 10th longest in American history, according to an NBC News analysis.

For the fourth time in weeks, the Senate on Friday voted down dueling Republican and Democratic bills to fund the government, with no senators changing their positions. It takes 60 votes to pass either bill.

Thune has said the Senate will not be in session over the weekend and that senators will return to Washington on Monday. The Republican-led House was originally scheduled to be in next week as well, but announced on Friday that it will not return until Oct. 14, having already passed its stopgap funding bill on Sept. 19.

Johnson had said earlier Friday, "The House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government.”

Asked if House Democrats would be called back to Washington next week, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, simply responded: "Yes."

The Democratic bill would reopen the government through Oct. 31, while extending expiring Obamacare subsidies and repealing Trump's Medicaid cuts, among other changes. It has no GOP support.

"It's day three of the Trump shutdown because Donald Trump and Republicans insist on raising Americans' health care premiums and kicking millions off their insurance," Schumer said Friday on the Senate floor.

Thune said Friday he cannot commit to extending the enhanced Obamacare tax credits, which were first enacted in 2021 during the Covid pandemic.

"We can't make commitments or promises on the Covid subsidies because that's not something we can guarantee that there are the votes there to do," Thune said. "But what I've said is, I'm open to having conversations with our Democrat colleagues about how to address that issue. But that can't happen while the government is shut down."

Johnson also didn't commit to extending the ACA money.

"Republicans commit to continue the work we've already been doing and demonstrating to bring down cost and improve quality of care," he said. "We are committed to that and we will do whatever's necessary to make it happen."

The Republican funding bill, which has already passed the House, would reopen the government through Nov. 21 without the health care provisions favored by Democrats. In the most recent Senate votes, just three Democratic caucus members have voted with Republicans to advance that GOP bill: Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Angus King, I-Maine; and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

Republicans are trying to put pressure on other moderate or retiring Democrats to join that trio. The GOP needs just five more Democratic votes to beat back a filibuster and advance the funding bill.

"All it takes … is a handful more. We get four, five more votes and we can pass this thing, and there are discussions going on with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle," Thune said. "But at some point, they have to take yes as an answer."