Nothing says “urgency” like a four-day weekend and canceled votes.
But that’s where Congress stands as the federal government rolls into the third workweek of a shutdown that no one seems in any rush to end.
Usually, standoffs like this one are described as a crisis. But repeated showdowns and deadline-driven governance have seemingly made Congress accustomed to what was once considered catastrophic.
This shutdown has been marked by a distinct lack of urgency. It’s played out as a slow-rolling inevitability like a 10-car fender bender at 5 miles per hour in a parking lot. It all leaves little hope of anything being solved soon.
Consider the Senate, which just took a long weekend. They voted Tuesday for the eighth time on a GOP funding plan that has been rejected repeatedly. Spoiler alert: it failed again.
That’s more than can be said for the House, which hasn’t voted since Sept. 19 and isn’t scheduled to be back this week, and so on Sunday will mark a full month without any meaningful floor activity.
Meanwhile President Donald Trump is focused on foreign affairs, including stopping the fighting in Gaza and pressing Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine.
Aside from a single White House meeting and the inevitable social media posts, he has largely disengaged from Congress on the shutdown.
When the White House does speak up, it’s often to flex its muscles about laying off more federal workers.
Both sides have signaled their comfort from the start. On Sept. 30, with the last funding law on the eve of expiring, the Senate held a last-ditch series of votes — around 6:40 pm. They failed, and if senators voted quickly they still had time to get dinner at a reasonable hour before federal offices shuttered.
Party leaders are trying to present an illusion of activity, with daily Senate floor speeches or news conferences from House Speaker
There’s some reason for it: for all the talk about the bad politics of shutdowns, recent history says the party that causes them suffers few long-term consequences.
The most acrimonious recent fight was fueled by Sen.
Once seen as guerrilla tactics, government shutdowns and debt ceiling increase votes are now regarded as leverage. The Senate minority can use those two issues to force the other side to the table, so the Capitol for years has been driven by an unending cycle of deadlines met by setting new deadlines a few months later and negotiations against the clock.
Usually the worst outcomes have been averted.
But as partisanship rises and the Trump administration takes increasingly aggressive approaches to power without regard to Congress, the responses are rising in intensity as well. Attacks, rhetoric, and tactics that were once unthinkable are becoming commonplace. Just check any prominent political social media feed.
In this fight, the impacts are building but slowly. Some, such as missed pay for troops, have been avoided.
But there are also worse potential fights. Experts have long predicted that if Congress ever stumbles over the debt ceiling tripwire, and prevents the government from paying its existing obligations, the economic consequences would hit fast and hard.
This shutdown, though, shows that even those kinds of extreme results no longer scare Congress.
News From the Hill
Defense Spending Vote Eyed: Senate Majority Leader
- Senate Republicans are aiming to attach other bills along with setting up a vote to move a separate package of smaller spending bills to conference, Jack Fitzpatrick and Ken Tran report in today’s BGOV Budget. They may try to attach the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill — traditionally written with more Democratic priorities — to the Defense measure to try to get Democratic buy-in, but would need consent from the minority to fast track the process. Read More
Unchecked Power: Congressional Republican leaders have so far largely backed the White House’s expanded power claims, asserting that Trump has wide-ranging authority during a shutdown to pay military personnel and make other necessary moves in the absence of new federal funding. Others disagree, Alicia Diaz, Erik Wasson, and Caitlin Reilly report. Read More
Moulton Challenge: Rep.
After Going Viral: A swing-state House Democrat who initiated hallway confrontations with Speaker Johnson says her more combative approach during the shutdown is resonating with voters. “My constituents have responded very favorably,” Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) told Mica Soellner. Read More
Representative in Waiting: A group of House Democrats, led by the Democratic Women’s Caucus, marched to the speaker’s office last night to protest that Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva hasn’t been sworn in, Maeve Sheehey reports. The Arizona Democrat, who won a special election late last month, is in Washington this week even though she’s not yet empowered to hire staff — or sign any discharge petitions, including the one seeking a vote on releasing files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Alaska Fossil Fuels: Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska) is using the Congressional Review Act to try to undo Biden-era limits on oil and gas leasing in the coastal plain of ANWR, Kellie Lunney reports. Read More
WIC Backed: House Democrats floated legislation to make funding mandatory for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, rather than subject to annual appropriations Skye Witley reports. The bill lacks Republican cosponsors, so is unlikely to move. Read More
Airport Support: Funding for rural airports through the Essential Air Service program will continue during the shutdown regardless of claims by the Trump administration, according to key lawmakers and administration documents, Zach Williams reports. Read More
Nearing Senate Confirmation: Former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), who’s nominated to replace a fired Labor Department inspector general, has promised key lawmakers that he intends to be unbiased, Parker Purifoy reports. Read More
REGISTER NOW FOR BGOV WEBINAR: Bloomberg Government’s journalists are hosting a webinar on Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. Eastern with an update on the shutdown dynamics and what they mean for other funding and policy priorities. Register Here
Today’s Agenda
Another Senate spending vote is likely today after the parties hold their weekly lunches.
Thune will likely ask to reconsider one of the unsuccessful votes to limit debate on the motion to proceed to the House-passed continuing resolution through Nov. 21 (
Additional votes are possible today. In addition to teeing up the procedural vote on the Defense spending bill later this week, Thune filed for cloture on Harold D. Mooty III’s nomination to be district judge for the Northern District of Alabama, teeing up a potential vote this week.
Senators also agreed to vote by Halloween on measures to end the emergencies underpinning tariffs on Canada (
The House isn’t in session.
Off the floor, many press conferences are planned — including on today’s Supreme Court case on race-based districts — but committees haven’t scheduled hearings or markups. Click here for more on this week’s events.
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