Government shutdown hits 4-week mark as Senate fails to advance GOP funding bill for 13th time

Thousands of air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday due to the four-week-long government shutdown, leading to mounting frustration and financial worries.

"Air traffic control is a lot of pressure and stress. It's the nature of the job," said Joe Segretto, who has worked in air traffic control for almost 20 years. "But we don't ask for these types of stressors."

Air traffic controllers are expected to keep reporting to work without pay during a shutdown, but the number of staff members who have called out sick has crept up, leading to flight delays due to shortages.

Federal workers are set to get back pay when the shutdown ends. 

But Segretto, whose wife and two children depend on his salary, told CBS News that missed paychecks could cause "a huge burden on my life."

"Having to decide whether to pay my mortgage. Do I put food on the table? Do I pay gas? Do I pay my electric bill?" said Segretto. "Something has to give somewhere."

The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee pressed the Trump administration to tap into a contingency fund to keep Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments flowing.

The Trump administration has said SNAP payments will be cut off on Saturday, arguing it doesn't have the legal authority to use the Department of Agriculture's more than $5 billion contingency fund. The total cost of running SNAP in November would be $9.2 billion, said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

But Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut argued to reporters Tuesday that lawmakers set aside that contingency funding "for exactly these kinds of purposes." 

And as for the remaining cost of running SNAP after that fund is exhausted, she said, "you bet we can find the rest of the money." She did not specify the possible source of those extra funds.

"The money is there," DeLauro said. "Go get it."

Republicans have argued that Democrats should vote to reopen the government to restore SNAP funding — which DeLauro said is unnecessary.

"The government does not have to reopen for them to use that money," she said.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told CBS News the Trump administration doesn't have the legal authority to keep food assistance flowing during the government shutdown, as the federal program that helps more than 40 million Americans pay for groceries is set to halt payments on Saturday.

Rollins pushed back on calls to keep the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, funded by tapping a $5 billion contingency fund, arguing the administration doesn't have the legal authority to use that money. She also noted that it would cost about $9.2 billion to fully fund SNAP next month.

"We're trying to follow the law here," she told CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O'Keefe on "The Takeout." "We've used Band-Aid and duct tape all along this whole last month. And, and as we've said, it's not going to be there on November 1st."

Pressed on why the administration hasn't sought money from other sources, given that it has kept paying members of the military and FBI personnel, Rollins noted that the money for military pay is partially coming from a private donor.

The administration's position has drawn stiff pushback from Democrats, who have urged the Department of Agriculture to draw down its emergency contingency funding.

Rollins responded by pressing Democrats to vote to reopen the government.

"I find it extremely rich that people would say that President Trump or our administration is playing politics with people's hunger," Rollins said.

A federal judge has indefinitely barred the Trump administration from firing government employees due to the shutdown while a lawsuit challenging the effort makes its way through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted a preliminary injunction during a hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday. She said she believes the reductions-in-force — the government's term for layoffs — were unlawful and the administration does not have the authority to continue them.

Illston previously issued a temporary block on the layoffs earlier this month, after a group of unions representing federal workers sued the government, calling the cuts unlawful and arbitrary. The administration has argued it has the authority to carry out layoffs.

The Trump administration has sought to lay off thousands of workers since the shutdown began. The executive branch typically sends nonessential workers home without pay during government shutdowns, rather than permanently laying them off.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Senate Democrats will introduce a bill today to fund SNAP, after the Department of Agriculture said federal food aid will not go out on Nov. 1. He also said the bill would ensure funding for the Women, Infants and Children program, known as WIC. 

Speaking at his weekly press conference, Schumer railed against the Trump administration for not funding the food benefits program, saying "every day the shutdown drags on, the pain is deeper."

"It's time for Republicans to get serious about ending the shutdown," Schumer said. "So today, Democrats will introduce a bill that would extend the SNAP funding and WIC to make sure no child goes hungry, no family goes without food."

The New York Democrat said the measure will get "broad, if not universal support" among Democrats. But whether the measure would come up for a vote or earn support from Republicans remained unclear.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune seemed ambivalent about bringing up individual bills to pay certain groups of federal workers or fund programs like SNAP during the shutdown.

"This piecemeal approach, where you do one-off here, one-off there to make it seem more politically palatable to somebody or less painful, that's just the wrong way to do this," Thune said.

He said the simple way to resolve the issue is to approve the House-passed measure to fund the government until Nov. 21. 

"I'm open to suggestions, obviously, and we've had people throw out different ideas about when we ought to be here and we shouldn't be here, but it doesn't seem like it makes a lot of sense to just repetitively now go down and have the Democrats vote over and over again against opening government," Thune said.

Vance told reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans that the administration is "trying to keep as much open as possible, and we're exploring all options" during the government shutdown, including ensuring that critical food benefits are funded and that the military gets paid.

"But you know what would make this really easy? If the Democrats just opened up the government," Vance said. "Then we wouldn't have to play this game."

The vice president stressed that Republicans only need five Democrats to join them to advance a House-passed measure to fund the government until Nov. 21. He said he and Senate Republicans discussed "strategies for moving those five votes" during the meeting.

"We need five Democrats to just do it, to just stop arguing about whether to reopen the government or not and just do it," Vance said. 

Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans at the Capitol, said U.S. troops will receive their paychecks Friday despite the shutdown. 

"Will the troops get paid on Friday? Yes," Vance said. "We believe that we can continue to pay the troops on Friday."

The administration tapped unspent research and development funds to cover service members' pay earlier this month, but officials had warned that was a temporary fix. 

Vance did not say what funds the administration is using to pay service members this week.

On a conference call with House Republicans earlier Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to invoke the "nuclear option" to eliminate the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster and pass most legislation in the Senate, according to a source familiar with her remarks. She also voiced frustration with Republican lawmakers deferring to White House political staff.

Her comments were first reported by Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News. Greene reposted Sherman's report on X, and reiterated her frustrations with the GOP approach to the shutdown.

"You left out that I said I have no respect for the House not being in session passing our bills and the President's executive orders," she wrote. "And I demanded to know from Speaker Johnson what the Republican plan for healthcare is to build the off-ramp off Obamacare and the ACA tax credits to make health insurance affordable for Americans."

Greene said Johnson told members "he's got ideas and pages of policy ideas and committees of jurisdiction are working on it, but he refused to give one policy proposal to our GOP conference on our own conference call."

"Apparently I have to go into a SCIF to find out the Republican healthcare plan!!!" she added, referring to a secure facility used to access classified information.

A coalition of officials from half of the states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over the suspension of food stamp benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown, as millions of Americans brace for a disruption in federal food aid in the coming days.

The states, which include California, New York and Pennsylvania, are asking a federal judge in Massachusetts to order the Department of Agriculture to provide benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for November, including by tapping into a contingency fund to ensure the assistance continues to flow to more than 25 million people living in their borders.

They argue that the administration's decision to cut off food stamp payments, which are provided to roughly 42 million people nationwide, is unlawful and threatens to deprive millions of Americans of essential food benefits that help protect against food insecurity and hunger.

"Shutting off SNAP benefits will cause deterioration of public health and well-being," state officials wrote in their lawsuit. "Ultimately, the States will bear costs associated with many of these harms. The loss of SNAP benefits leads to food insecurity, hunger, and malnutrition, which are associated with numerous negative health outcomes in children, such as poor concentration, decreased cognitive function, fatigue, depression, and behavioral problems."

Read more here.

Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol shortly after 1 p.m. for his lunch with GOP senators. 

"Talk to you guys soon," Vance told reporters as he entered.

The procedural vote to move forward on the House-passed continuing resolution failed in a 54 to 45 vote, the 13th time it has fallen short. 

Three Democrats — Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King — voted with Republicans to advance the measure. Those are the same three who have supported the bill since the beginning of the shutdown, an indication that recent moves to pressure Democratic holdouts have not moved the needle so far.

The Senate is now holding its 13th vote on advancing the House-passed continuing resolution. 

Republicans are hoping that the increased pressure from the upcoming SNAP freeze and the push by the largest federal workers' union will be enough to peel off more Democrats to support the bill. Only three Democrats — Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King — have supported moving forward on the funding measure in the previous 12 votes. King is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.

 You can watch a live stream of the Senate vote in the video player at the top of this page.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters there's "not a high level of interest in doing carveouts" to pay some federal workers or fund certain programs, like paying air traffic controllers or funding SNAP benefits. He said Republicans would discuss the issues today at their lunch meeting, but he said, "I think most people recognize the way to get out of this mess is to vote to open up the government."

The South Dakota Republican said Democrats are in a "blocking mode."

"As this starts sinking in, becoming more real and the consequences more painful, hopefully they'll come to their senses," Thune said. 

Johnson was asked about the prospect of President Trump pursuing a third term in office, despite constitutional limits that forbid it. The president did not rule out seeking a third term earlier this week, and regularly gives "Trump 2028" hats to visitors at the White House.

"Well, there is the 22nd Amendment," the speaker said, referring to the amendment that states, in part, that "No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."

"I think the president knows, and he and I have talked about, the constrictions of the Constitution, as much as so many of the American people lament that. The Trump 2028 cap is one of the most popular that's ever been produced, and he has a good time with that, trolling the Democrats whose hair is on fire about the very prospect," Johnson said.

He continued: "But I do believe that we've got three extraordinary years ahead of us … I don't see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about 10 years to do that, as you all know, to allow all the states to ratify what two-thirds of the House and three-fourths of the states would approve. So I don't see the path for that, but I can tell you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas pedal."

At his daily press conference at the Capitol, House Speaker Mike Johnson cited a statement from the largest federal workers union on Monday that called for lawmakers to pass a stopgap funding measure, putting pressure on Democrats to back down from their fight. The Louisiana Republican said that the move could be an opportunity for the Democrats to "claim cover" and reopen the government. 

"I just want to say this simply to our Democrat colleagues — you have an off-ramp now," Johnson said. "You painted yourself into a corner, but here's your off-ramp. The unions, the largest unions, are saying, 'Please do this.' You can claim that as cover and say that you had to do it."

Johnson urged Democrats to reopen the government, reiterating that Republicans have done their job by passing a measure to fund the government until Nov. 21 in the House. That measure has fallen short of the 60 votes needed a dozen times in the Senate. 

The Senate convened at 10 a.m. for speeches ahead of the 11:30 a.m. vote on advancing the bill to reopen the government. You can watch a live stream of the Senate floor in the video player at the top of this page.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times on Tuesday urging his colleagues to support a bill he is sponsoring that would fund the SNAP program through the shutdown. 

The Department of Agriculture said federal food aid will not go out on Nov. 1.

"Saturday will be another grim milestone," Hawley wrote. "That is the day about 42 million Americans will lose federal food assistance."

Hawley's legislation is known as the Keep SNAP Funded Act and would provide "such sums as are necessary to provide uninterrupted benefits" under SNAP. 

Hawley said the shutdown "has already touched countless lives, and not for the better," highlighting the toll of the funding lapse on key services and how it has forced thousands of federal employees to work without pay.

"But letting federal food assistance lapse would introduce an entirely new stage of suffering," he said.

Hawley called passing a "clean" funding measure to reopen the government the "best solution." But if the stalemate continues, he said "Congress at the very least needs to pass my bill to ensure food assistance continues uninterrupted."

The Missouri Republican pointed to what he's heard from his constituents, including a retired teacher who wrote to him about her grandchildren who rely on the food aid to buy groceries, and a woman who said she and her disabled husband likewise need the assistance.

"There is no reason any of these residents of my state — or any other American who qualifies for food assistance — should go hungry," Hawley said. "We can afford to provide the help."

Hawley bemoaned the politics of the shutdown, saying "Republicans blame Democrats, and Democrats blame Republicans, but all these people have food to spare."

"But this isn't about politics at all in the end. It's about who we are," he said. "The character of a nation is revealed not in quarterly profits or C.E.O. pay, but in how it treats the small and forgotten — the last, the least, the lost."

The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. and vote on the GOP-backed continuing resolution at 11:30 a.m., according to a notice from Majority Whip John Barrasso's office. This will be the 13th vote on the measure that would extend funding until Nov. 21.

World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit organization founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, says it will feed furloughed federal workers a free, hot lunch until there's a breakthrough on Capitol Hill.

Volunteers passed out nearly 2,000 meals to federal workers in Washington, D.C., on Monday, the first day of the effort. They will return Tuesday to Washington Canal Park in Navy Yard and could expand to a second location in coming days.

Federal workers who lined up for lunch Monday expressed exasperation over the stalemate on Capitol Hill, while bracing for another missed paycheck.

"Mortgages in the area are expensive, and daycare is a second mortgage," said Humberto Lopez, a furloughed Department of Defense employee, of the financial strain.

"You can't hold federal government workers hostage," Lopez said, urging lawmakers to pass a funding measure and then negotiate other issues. "If you can't trust the other side to do the right thing, then this all falls apart."

While the workers say they appreciate generosity from the community and local businesses, they're reaching their limit as the shutdown approaches one month.

"We are human beings with families with lives, and we have bills that just will not stop," said furloughed worker Markita Bryant. "I think it is the breaking point, and so something has to happen and something has to give."

More than 40 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to pay for groceries are facing uncertainty as benefits are expected to come to a halt Saturday.

"People are scared," said Central Pennsylvania Food Bank CEO Shila Ulrich, who expects demand to pick up. "It's a moment where people don't know and understand what's about to happen, whether or not they'll get those benefits should the government open back up, or when."

Erin Annis — who uses SNAP benefits after three bouts of cancer and a double knee replacement left her unable to work — told CBS News that she'll need to rely on help from her children if assistance is cut off.

"That's an awful feeling," she said. "For them to have to help me … it's a little tough to think about sometimes."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says "the well will run dry" for SNAP benefits, often known as food stamps, due to the government shutdown. The department says it will not tap into a roughly $5 billion contingency fund to keep SNAP payments flowing, arguing that money is reserved for natural disasters. 

The Trump administration has blamed Senate Democrats for the looming cutoff, faulting lawmakers for not voting on a bill passed by the GOP-controlled House to fund the government. Meanwhile, Democrats have pressed GOP leadership to agree to extend health insurance subsidies for millions of Americans in exchange for Democratic votes to end the shutdown. 

Annis said she just wants lawmakers to find a solution.

"This should not be a political issue," she said. "This should be a human privilege to be fed."

Vice President Vance is expected to attend the Senate Republican lunch on Tuesday as the shutdown nears the one-month mark.

The focus is expected to be on President Trump's tariff agenda as Senate Democrats look to force votes this week on terminating emergency declarations used to impose tariffs on Canada and Brazil, along with the general global tariffs. 

The visit comes as the president is away from Washington on a three-country visit in Asia until later this week.

Three U.S. airports faced delays Monday due to low air traffic control staffing levels.

Flights at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed by an average of 39 minutes, with flights out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport delayed 18 minutes, according to Federal Aviation Administration data. The agency said staffing was the cause of the delays at all three airports.

Dallas and Newark are among the busiest airports in the country, and serve as hubs for American Airlines and United Airlines, respectively.

Air traffic controllers have not received a full paycheck since the government shutdown began earlier this month, but they are expected to report to work without pay — and as in prior shutdowns, the number of staff members who call out sick has increased.

Discussions are ongoing among Senate Republicans over whether to move forward on narrower legislation that would fund certain programs or pay federal workers amid the shutdown, like a measure to pay air traffic controllers or the military, or legislation to fund the SNAP program.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Monday, when asked about the standalone bills, that GOP leaders will "see what the temperature is of our senators on some of those issues."

Sen John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said he expects the topic will come up at Tuesday's lunch meeting, where Republicans will "figure out what the consensus strategy is going forward."

"Right now, it's reopen the government," Cornyn said of the Republican thinking. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican, told reporters after a leadership meeting Monday night that he doesn't understand why the separate measures are needed, saying Democrats have repeatedly supported "clean" stopgap funding bills in the past.

If they're "really concerned about the SNAP program," Democrats should "open the government with a simple vote," Mullin said. 

— Kaia Hubbard, Alan He and Cristina Corujo