The government shutdown is likely to continue into next week after the Senate for a fourth time rejected a bill to keep agencies funded through Nov. 21, keeping hundreds of thousands of employees at home and others at risk of losing their jobs altogether.
All but three Democrats rejected a continuing resolution to reopen agencies, denying the legislation the 60 votes required for its passage. Neither chamber is expected to hold votes over the weekend, meaning Monday is the earliest lawmakers could vote to end the shutdown. The two sides remain divided, however, and no clear path toward resolving the impasse has emerged.
The prospect of a longer shutdown will likely lead to more federal employees being sent home on furlough. Some agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, have kept all or most of their employees working using alternative funds to annual appropriations, but have said those would run dry after five days. The Trump administration initially furloughed around 550,000 employees, but that number will climb significantly if the shutdown continues into next week and beyond.
Federal workers across government are also anxiously waiting to see if the White House follows through on its threat to institute mass layoffs. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, reiterated on Friday that the Office of Management and Budget is “working with the agencies and our cabinet secretaries to see where cuts unfortunately can and have to be made.”
Leavitt blamed congressional Democrats for creating an “unenviable choice” of determining where permanent layoffs should occur, though she also said it represented an “opportunity.”
As of Friday afternoon, only the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has implemented layoffs since the shutdown began. The agency sent notices to around 1% of its workforce.
Senate Democrats continue to demand that as part of any deal to reopen government Congress address the dramatic premium increase set to hit at the end of the year for those receiving health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have not backed down from their position that they will only negotiate over the issue once the government is reopened.
In the meantime, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said, OMB Director Russ Vought will determine what layoffs are necessary. Vought briefed Johnson and the entire House Republican caucus earlier this week and said the cuts were imminent.
Vought is being “very deliberate” in determining “what decisions can be made in the best interest of the American people,” Johnson said of the pending reductions in force.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said he would not be deterred by the administration’s threats. Mass firings of federal workers were already happening outside the context of a government shutdown, he said.
“This is who they are,” Jeffries said. “The cruelty is the point.”
Even as the shutdown drags into its second week, federal workers will not experience any immediate delays to their pay. The next official pay date, in which most feds would be missing parts of their normal paychecks, is not until mid-October, though the exact timing will depend on which federal entity disburses their salaries. Paychecks otherwise set to hit accounts at the end of the month would be delayed in their entirety, if the shutdown continues until that point.
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