- Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, blocked the 13th GOP attempt to pass a House-approved continuing resolution, prolonging the 28-day government shutdown.
- The shutdown’s human cost escalates: missed paychecks for air traffic controllers, looming military pay delays, and SNAP and Obamacare enrollment risks.
In a stark display of partisan gridlock, Senate Democrats on Tuesday rebuffed Republicans‘ latest effort to break the impasse of the nation’s longest government shutdown in nearly a decade, now stretching into its 28th grueling day.
The rejection, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., marks the 13th failed attempt to pass a House-approved continuing resolution (CR) aimed at restoring federal operations and funding.
The vote’s failure arrives at a precarious moment, coinciding with the first missed payday for air traffic controllers and just days before the U.S. military confronts its inaugural full paycheck delay on Friday.
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Adding to the urgency, federal nutrition assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—commonly known as food stamps—teeter on the edge of disruption by Saturday, the same day millions of Americans gear up for Obamacare open enrollment.
Thune Rejects “Rifle Shots,” Insists on Full Reopening
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who spearheaded the push, expressed frustration over the repeated roadblocks but remained steadfast in his call for a clean reopening.
“Most people recognize the way to get out of this mess is to open up the government,” Thune told reporters, pouring cold water on alternative strategies like targeted “rifle shot” bills to address specific pain points.
Behind the scenes, however, whispers of compromise—and contingency plans—continue to swirl.
Republicans are mulling a slate of standalone measures to compensate furloughed federal workers, active-duty troops, air traffic controllers, and SNAP recipients.
Yet Thune signaled limited enthusiasm for these piecemeal fixes during a closed-door GOP lunch attended by Vice President JD Vance, emphasizing a holistic solution over fragmented relief.
Still, optimism flickers among some lawmakers.
Furloughed Workers and Lack of Pay
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, whose proposed legislation would prioritize back pay for air traffic controllers amid mounting flight delays, struck a hopeful note.
“I certainly hope so,” Cruz replied when pressed on whether his bill might finally reach the Senate floor for a vote.
Similarly, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., is navigating tricky bipartisan waters on a measure to ensure pay for working federal employees and service members—a proposal blocked last week but now under revision.
Johnson, collaborating at a distance with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., has incorporated Democratic demands, including provisions to extend coverage to furloughed workers and preserve presidential authority on personnel decisions, subject to judicial review.
“I want to make this permanent. Let’s stop, again, let’s take the ability to punish federal employees because of our dysfunction away forever. We’ll add furlough employees, and we’re not changing anything in terms of the president’s authority—that would be adjudicated in the court,” Johnson said, his voice laced with exasperation.
“So the question is, will they take ‘yes’ for an answer?”
He noted their last conversation occurred Friday, underscoring the arm’s-length nature of the talks, and admitted doubts about the bill advancing despite the concessions.
The human toll of the shutdown has escalated dramatically.
Air traffic controllers, essential to the nation’s aviation safety, reported widespread financial strain as their first full paycheck evaporated into the void.
“Air traffic controllers miss full paycheck because of government shutdown, Duffy says,” echoed sentiments from House Republicans, highlighting how the impasse is rippling through critical infrastructure.
Flight delays have intensified, with unpaid professionals bearing the brunt of operational slowdowns.
Federal workers, from civilian Pentagon staff to national park rangers, are bracing for broader fallout as the shutdown enters its fifth week.
“Federal workers brace for missed paycheck as shutdown enters 5th week,” captures the mounting anxiety in agency hallways and union halls across the capital.
Democrats, unyielding in their stance, frame the standoff as a Republican-orchestrated crisis rooted in unwillingness to safeguard healthcare affordability.
Schumer Blames Trump, Slams “Partisan” GOP Bill
Schumer, flanked by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, lambasted the GOP’s repeated tabling of the same CR, which he dismissed as inadequate.
“It’s a partisan bill and does nothing, most importantly, does nothing to solve the [Obamacare] crisis,” Schumer declared from the Senate floor.
He reserved particular ire for President Donald Trump, who is abroad this week, and Thune’s tactical choices.
“Just now, here on the floor, the Republican leaders seemed perplexed about what precisely it is that Democrats are pushing for. He knows damn well what Democrats want. It’s the very same thing that a vast majority of Americans want, including nearly 60% of MAGA voters. We want lower healthcare costs now,” Schumer thundered, reiterating demands for a binding extension of expiring Obamacare subsidies.
As deadlines cascade—military pay on Friday, SNAP cliff and health insurance sign-ups on Saturday—the pressure mounts on both sides.
Thune’s office has not ruled out revisiting the rifle-shot bills in the coming days, but the path forward remains shrouded in uncertainty.
With the shutdown’s economic ripples expanding—estimated at billions in lost productivity—lawmakers face a stark choice: dig in deeper or deliver the deal the public demands.
For now, the Capitol’s marble halls echo with recriminations, but the clock ticks mercilessly toward deeper crisis.
As one anonymous Senate aide put it off the record, “This isn’t governance; it’s gamesmanship—and the American people are losing.”
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