Government shutdown will extend into next week as Senate adjourns without breaking stalemate

The Senate will not hold any further votes on the dueling Democratic and Republican funding bills this week. The continued impasse in the Senate extends the shutdown until at least next week, when the upper chamber is expected to return on Tuesday at 3 p.m. 

The Senate was originally scheduled to be on break next week. It's unclear if House Republican leaders will bring back members next week. 

The lower chamber has not been in session since Sept. 19, when it passed the Republican funding measure. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has continued to extend their break, arguing that the lower chamber's work is done and the House will return once the bill has cleared the Senate.

The Trump administration has begun airing a video at airports nationwide in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blames Democrats for a nine-day-old government shutdown. 

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that the video began airing on Thursday.

In the video, Noem tells travelers: "Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted and most of our TSA employees are working without pay." 

The video was first reported by Fox News.

The shutdown has prompted flight delays at several U.S. airports due to air traffic controller shortages. Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are expected to turn up for work despite not getting paid until the shutdown ends — and since government funding lapsed, there has seen a slight uptick in air traffic controllers calling out sick, the Trump administration has said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said there is no scenario "at this moment" in which the lower chamber returns to Washington before the Senate passes Republicans' seven-week stopgap measure. 

"I'll tell you why," he told CBS News' Major Garrett in an interview Thursday, "because the House has done its job." 

But Johnson has faced criticism from his own party over the argument. On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of California noted that the short-term funding measure was only necessary because "Congress has not done its job" in passing the dozen annual appropriations bills. 

"The Speaker shouldn't even think about cancelling session for a third straight week," Kiley wrote on X. 

When asked why he would not bring the House back to continue work on the annual appropriations bills, Johnson said, "a lot of that work is being done short of passage on the House floor." 

"There's a lot of negotiation, deliberation going on, even as we speak, the appropriators working together, not just Republicans and Democrats in the House, but across chambers," Johnson said. 

The House has passed three of the 12 appropriations bills. None of the 12 have passed both the House and Senate. 

Johnson responded to Stefanik's call for a vote on a standalone bill on military pay, reiterating his earlier position. 

"The House has done its job. We have already voted three weeks ago," the Louisiana Republican told reporters. "The Democrats are asking for more votes because they realize they made a major mistake. I think some of them, they regret it. But the Republicans stood united. We voted to pay the troops, to pay the TSA agents, to pay the Border Patrol agents and air traffic controllers and everybody else. The Democrats chose to vote against that. They want us to bail them out. Look, they made a position. We made ours. We stand with the troops. We always have. We are the party that does that, and we did it decisively." 

GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik broke with House Speaker Mike Johnson to demand a vote on a bill that would pay members of the military during the shutdown. 

"As a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and the longtime representative for Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division, I have cosponsored and am calling for a floor vote on the Pay Our Troops Act to ensure that our brave and dedicated servicemembers are paid," the New York Republican said in a statement. 

Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, indicated earlier Thursday that he would not put a bill from Republican Rep. Jennifer Kiggans of Virginia on the floor when the House returns. The bill, titled the "Pay our Troops Act," would provide funding for members of the military, civilian personnel and Defense Department contractors during a government shutdown. 

The House has "done its job," Johnson said.

"We have already voted to pay the troops. We did it three weeks ago," Johnson said, referring to Republicans' short-term funding measure that passed the House on Sept. 19. 

Kiggans' bill has been gaining support since she introduced it in mid-September, with 104 Republicans and 44 Democrats consponsoring the bill as of Wednesday. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said Thursday he also supports the bill and called on GOP leadership to bring the House back so members could vote on it. 

"What House Republicans need to do is come back so we can address the military pay issue and reopen the government," Jeffries said. "Members of the House Republican conference are upset and perplexed that their leadership has them on vacation week after week after week." 

Of all the communities across America impacted by the government shutdown, the population of endangered black-footed ferrets may be among the smallest and most vulnerable. 

This rare species, safeguarded under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, teeters on the brink of extinction, with about 300 existing in the wild. 

Now, with biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service furloughed because of the shutdown, a critical release of 400 captive-bred ferrets, designed to strengthen their wild populations, is in jeopardy. 

"It just really makes us all very nervous," said Chamois Andersen, a senior leader at Defenders of Wildlife, a key non-profit partner on the federal agency's Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Plan. "It's not something we can play around with, in terms of the timing and the funding. It's that endangered of a species."

Read more here.

CBS News congressional reporter Taurean Small has more on this afternoon's Senate votes:

Senate Majority Leader John Thune suggested Republicans are open to giving Democrats a separate vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, but reiterated that the government needs to be reopened first. 

"We're open to thoughts and ideas they might have," the South Dakota Republican said, "obviously subject to reopening of the government."

Speaking on the steps of the Capitol, House Minority Leader Hakeem criticized Senate Republicans for "engaging in the classic definition of legislative insanity."

"Doing the same thing over and over and over again, bringing the same partisan Republican spending bill to the Senate floor over and over and over again and expecting a different result," Jeffries said. 

Jeffries said Republicans need to get "serious" about reaching an agreement to reopen the government and address health care concerns, noting that "things are not going to change" until then.  

"It's time for House Republicans to get back in town, get to the negotiating table and get real about reopening the government and addressing the quality of life and cost of living challenges that the American people face all across the country," Jeffries said. 

When asked about criticism of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who told Punchbowl News that "every day gets better for us" in reference to the Democrats' negotiating position, Jeffries said House and Senate Democrats have been "completely aligned" and have taken a "principled position in defense of the health care of the American people."

"The Republican health care crisis is real. It's upon us," Jeffries said. "It's devastating the country, and House Democrats partnering with Senate Democrats are standing up on principle in defense of the American people."

The House-passed measure to fund the government fell short for a seventh time in the Senate in a 54 to 45 vote. Republicans were again unable to pick up any new Democratic support.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, broke with GOP leaders in Congress on their approach to the shutdown on Thursday, warning of the possible impact for her party in the midterm elections.

Greene has claimed the president isn't always getting the best advice. And the GOP firebrand said on CNN that "I don't think it's good advice that a government shutdown is going to help Republicans in the midterms."

"I also don't think it's good advice that Republicans ignoring the health insurance crisis is going to be good for midterms. I actually think that will be very bad for midterms," she said. 

Greene said the health care issue is "very personal" to her. She said her constituents, friends and even her own children "are finding health insurance to be extremely unaffordable, and something that they are having to go without."

"I think this is an incredibly important issue, I think it is a crisis. I don't think it's something to wear political party team jerseys on," Greene said. "I think it's something that we have to address and fix."

Greene said "I'm one of those that gets real tired of political drama when it's not actually solving a problem, and this is such a crisis, that I'm willing to say, 'OK, everyone, we have to do something about this.'"

The Georgia Republican reiterated that she supports the president. But she said she sees the shutdown "completely different" from party leadership, pointing specifically to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
"This should not be happening," she said. 

Speaking at his Cabinet meeting about shrinking the size of the federal government during the shutdown, the president said his administration is "only going to cut Democrat programs."

"We'll be making cuts that will be permanent, and we're only going to cut Democrat programs. I hate to tell you, I guess that makes sense, but we're only cutting Democrat programs," he said, adding that Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, could talk more about the cuts.

At the beginning of the shutdown, the White House paused billions of dollars in funding for projects in blue states. Since then, the president has threatened to enact steep layoffs and cut more programs, but has not yet announced any concrete moves.

House Republican leaders have not committed to bringing the lower chamber back next week. The House last was in session on Sept. 19, when it voted to pass a seven-week funding bill. 

Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Thursday the House remains "on a 48-hour notice to return if something changes." 

Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also from Louisiana, added that "there's a lot of work to be done" and called on Senate Democrats to vote for the House-passed bill to reopen the government. But Scalise also did not commit to the House being in session next week. 

"There are a lot of bills that we want to move, there are a lot of committee meetings that we want to get done," he said. "We're focusing right now on getting the government back open." 

On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of California said Johnson "shouldn't even think about" canceling another week of session. 

Congress was out the week of Sept. 22 for Rosh Hashanah and was scheduled to return on Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, but Johnson canceled votes to put pressure on the Senate to pass the short-term funding bill before the Oct. 1 deadline. 

Instead of returning on Oct. 7 as scheduled, Johnson canceled another week of votes, arguing that the House had already done its job by passing the funding bill.

"No, what the House has done is pass a 7-week Continuing Resolution. The entire reason a CR is necessary is that Congress has not done its job in passing a timely budget," Kiley wrote on X. 

The Democratic measure to fund the government failed to advance for a seventh time in a 47 to 50 vote. 

The Senate is now voting on the House-passed measure to fund the government.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, the president blamed Democrats for "using health care as a cudgel" in the shutdown fight. Democrats want to extend health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which expire at the end of the year. 

"They keep using health care as a cudgel," Mr. Trump said. "They want to try and get everyone thinking about health care. We're the ones that are saving health care."

Republicans and the White House, Mr. Trump said, are working to bring down drug prices. 

The Senate is now voting on the Democratic measure to fund the government until Oct. 31, which includes an extension of health care tax credits. The bill has failed to pick up any support from Republicans, and is expected to again fall short on Thursday.

Next, the Senate will vote on the House-passed measure that would fund the government until Nov. 21. Three Democrats have consistently supported the GOP bill, but Republicans have failed to win over any others since the shutdown began.

The Senate is set to begin a series of votes at 11:45 a.m. that will include procedural motions on advancing the Democratic and Republican plans to fund the government, according to a notice from Majority Whip John Barrasso's office.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Republicans to "back away from their corner" and have "serious negotiations" over how to end the shutdown Thursday morning.

"We need to end this shutdown as soon as possible. Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans, and the clearer it becomes who's fighting for them," Schumer said on the Senate floor. 

The New York Democrat argued that "each day our case to fix health care and end the shutdown gets better and better, stronger and stronger, because families are opening their letters, showing how high their premiums will climb if Republicans get their way."

"They're seeing why this fight matters — it's about protecting their health care, their bank accounts, their futures," Schumer added.

As Democrats push for an extension for the expiring health insurance tax credits, Schumer argued that they "want to end this shutdown as quickly as we can, but Donald Trump and Republicans need to negotiate with us in a serious way to fix the health care premiums crisis." 

"We can and should do both — it's not either/or, like Republicans think," he said.

Schumer cited House Republicans who have questioned why the House remains in recess. "The cracks are showing on the Republican side because they know Speaker Johnson's position of not budging on health care fixes is untenable," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Punchbowl News in an interview Wednesday that "every day gets better for us," referring to Democrats' strategy in the funding fight.

"It's because we've thought about this long in advance and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30 and we prepared for it … Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two," Schumer said. 

While Senate Republicans have been looking to peel off Democratic support for a House-passed measure to fund the government, Democrats have largely stuck together, with no additional members breaking ranks since the shutdown began.

Republicans railed against Schumer for the comments Thursday, accusing him of playing political games and hurting American families. Senate Majority Leader John Thune displayed Schumer's quote on a billboard behind him as he spoke on the Senate floor. 

At his daily press conference at the Capitol, Johnson cited his conversation with a C-SPAN caller earlier in the morning. 

"One of the callers called in, and she was so upset, she was a young military mother," Johnson said. "She's so angry, and so am I, that their services are being delayed."

The speaker added: "This is not a game. Chuck Schumer thinks it is."

Johnson put the blame on Democrats, noting that "virtually every Republican voted to keep the government open."

"We've done our job, and the Democrats need to do theirs now," Johnson said.

"We need five Democrats to break ranks," he said, referring to the Senate. "We need five of them to wake up and come to their senses and do the right thing for the American people. How long are they going to allow this pain to be sustained?"

"Democrats seem to be doing everything, except the one thing that Americans desperately need and deserve, and that's passing our clean CR to get the government operating again," Johnson said. "Pass the clean CR, end the shutdown today."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune accused Democratic leadership Thursday morning of being "beholden" to far-left special interest groups who he said are "calling the shots." He urged Democratic senators to support the House-passed measure to fund the government.

"I think that's what's driving this at the leadership level, but I'm hoping that rank-and-file Democrats will come to their senses," Thune said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We need five more is all."

Thune added, "We have 55 United States senators out of 100 who are voting to open up the government." The South Dakota Republican said "the only thing standing between the government being opened up again," and having a conversation about the health care issues that Democrats have demanded, "is five Democrats coming forward and doing the right thing for the country."

Thune said he doesn't think the shutdown will end with the backing of Democratic leadership, calling it "a political game for these guys." Instead, he said he's hoping it ends with a number of Democrats crossing the aisle to support the GOP measure.

In an appearance on CNN, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted that House and Senate Democrats are united, and he slammed Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who tried to interrupt one of Jeffries' news conferences on Wednesday.

"Well, MAGA Mike Lawler is an irrelevant individual," Jeffries said Thursday morning. "He doesn't even have the support of the House Republican leadership who have refused to address the issue of extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits."

Lawler, a New York Republican, attempted to enter the room while the news conference was still underway but was stopped by staff, according to two sources. After the event concluded, he approached Jeffries, triggering a heated five-minute exchange in the hallway. Lawler pressed Jeffries to support a bill to extend health insurance tax credits for one year. Democrats continue to push for a permanent extension.

Earlier in the day, Lawler had also stopped Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, both Arizona Democrats, when they confronted House Speaker Mike Johnson over not swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva. Lawler, who represents a swing district, insisted Democratic leadership has "voted multiple times to keep the government shut down." 

Jeffries said Thursday that Democrats "will sit down with anyone, any time, any place one to reopen the government, negotiate a bipartisan agreement that has to actually make life better for the American people, not hurt everyday Americans."  

Tensions flared on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, leading to verbal confrontations between lawmakers as the shutdown hit the one-week mark.

The first confrontation came as Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both Arizona Democrats, spoke with reporters outside of House Speaker Mike Johnson's office, where they were calling for Democrat Adelita Grijalva to be sworn in while the House is out of session. 

Grijalva was elected on Sept. 23 to fill the seat of her late father, but her swearing in has been delayed as the House has remained out of Washington to put pressure on the Senate amid the shutdown. Democrats have accused Johnson of putting off Grijalva's swearing-in to delay the final signature on a discharge petition that would force a vote on the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

Johnson exited his office and approached Kelly and Gallego as they were speaking Wednesday, saying, "I'm not blocking her." Johnson said there's been "a long tradition here and a process of how we administer the oath."

Then, another confrontation occurred when GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York intercepted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries outside of a news conference, pressing the New York Democrat to support a measure to extend health insurance tax credits for one year. Democrats have made clear that they are seeking a permanent extension for the expiring tax credits.

The two lawmakers yelled over each other, and at one point, Jeffries said, "You're not going to talk to me and talk over me because you don't want to hear what I have to say." Lawler replied, "Oh, I'm listening." Then Jeffries replied, "So why don't you just keep your mouth shut?"

House Speaker Mike Johnson fielded questions from callers on C-SPAN, and accused Democrats of keeping the government shut down and raising the risk that military personnel will not be paid. "The Democrats are the ones that are preventing you from getting a check," he told one caller.

"Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are preventing your family from getting the care they need, not Republicans, and my heart goes out to you," Johnson said. 

The top Senate Republican indicated Wednesday he may hold votes on standalone bills to fund parts of the government, amid a continuing impasse on ending the shutdown.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Axios he's "prepared" to move some appropriations bills to the floor, including the defense appropriations bill, which has already passed the House. A source familiar with his remarks confirmed Thune's comments to CBS News.

The Senate is expected to hold procedural votes midday Thursday on dueling measures to fund the government, trying to break the impasse for a seventh time after the bills last fell short of the 60 votes needed on Wednesday.

Republicans have aimed to peel off support from Democrats for a House-passed measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21, while Democrats have a separate measure to fund the government through October that would also extend health insurance tax credits, which has become Democrats' key demand in the funding fight. 

Republicans have been unable to pick up any new support for their measure since the hours before the shutdown began. And with 53 Republicans in the upper chamber, support from Democrats is needed to advance a measure to fund the government. 

Just one Democrat initially crossed the aisle to support the bill in a vote last month. But on the next vote on Sept. 30, two more senators crossed the aisle to back it. Since then, Republicans have been unable to peel off any additional support from Democrats in two more attempts.