Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) walk into Statuary Hall for a news conference about the ongoing federal government shutdown at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 3, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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The Senate on Friday is poised to vote once again on dueling funding bills that would end the three-day-old government shutdown before it stretches into next week.
But there is little indication that either Republicans’ “clean” resolution, which would resume funding at current levels through late November, or Democrats’ version, which includes additional health-care funding and other measures, will pass.
The same competing resolutions have already failed multiple times in the Senate, including on the eve of the shutdown and after it began Wednesday morning.
If they fail again, the chamber is expected to adjourn for the weekend.
The Senate is expected to convene for votes starting at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Both parties’ leaders so far have shown more interest in convincing Americans that the other is to blame for the impasse than in working out a compromise.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Friday accused his Democratic opponents of being cowed by the far left of their party into obstructing President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“It’s all about President Trump and the Democrats needing to pick a fight to satisfy their far left political base, far left activist organizations who are the tail wagging the dog right now,” Thune said. “That’s all this is about.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said earlier on MSNBC that the president bears responsibility.
Trump “is in the presidential witness protection program — no one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue, because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it,” Jeffries said.
Meanwhile, the funding lapse is expected to lead to the furlough of an estimated 750,000 federal employees and trigger the temporary closure of a slew of government programs and offices.
The Trump administration, which was already working to shrink the size of the government, is warning that the shutdown could lead to permanent layoffs of thousands of federal workers — despite that not happening during prior funding lapses.
Trump said Thursday that Democrats gave him an “unprecedented opportunity” to cut what he described as “Democrat Agencies.”
While it was unclear precisely what that meant, Trump’s warning came a day after his administration froze $18 billion in Department of Transportation funds for two big infrastructure projects in New York City, and said the Department of Energy had cancelled nearly $8 billion in climate-related projects and other initiatives in 16 states that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election.
On Friday morning, the DOT froze another $2.1 billion in federal funds allocated for Chicago’s transit system.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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