{"id":464997,"date":"2025-10-01T05:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T05:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/464997\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T05:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T05:50:11","slug":"us-government-shuts-down-after-democrats-refuse-to-back-republican-funding-plan-us-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/464997\/","title":{"rendered":"US government shuts down after Democrats refuse to back Republican funding plan | US politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US government shut down on Wednesday, after congressional Democrats<\/a> refused to support a Republican plan to extend funding for federal departments unless they won a series of concessions centered on healthcare.<\/p>\n

The GOP, which controls the Senate and the House of Representatives, repudiated their demands, setting off a legislative scramble that lasted into the hours before funding lapsed at midnight, when the Senate failed to advance both parties\u2019 bills to keep funding going.<\/p>\n

The shutdown is the first since a 35-day closure that began in December 2018 and extended into the new year, during Trump\u2019s first term. It comes as Democrats look to regain their footing with voters, who re-elected Trump last year and relegated them to the minority in both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans are plunging America into a shutdown, rejecting bipartisan talks, pushing a partisan bill and risking America\u2019s healthcare,\u201d top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer<\/a> said on Tuesday evening, as it became clear a shutdown was inevitable.<\/p>\n

Last month, House Republicans passed a bill<\/a> that would fund the government through 21 November, but it requires the support of some Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the Senate. It failed to gain that support in votes held late on Tuesday, while Republicans also blocked a Democratic proposal to continue funding through October while also making an array of policy changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFar-left interest groups and far-left Democrat members wanted to show down with the president, and so Senate Democrats<\/a> have sacrificed the American people to Democrats\u2019 partisan interests,\u201d Senate majority leader John Thune said.<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans<\/a> have scheduled another round of votes on the two funding bills on Wednesday morning, with the stated goal of giving Democrats an opportunity to change their minds.<\/p>\n

The White House has responded to the shutdown threat by announcing plans to fire federal workers en masse if funding lapses. \u201cWhen you shut it down, you have to do layoffs, so we\u2019d be laying off a lot of people,\u201d Donald Trump<\/a> said earlier on Tuesday, adding: \u201cThey\u2019re going to be Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after the failed votes, Russ Vought, director of the White House office of management and budget, released a letter blaming \u201cDemocrats\u2019 insane policy demands\u201d for a shutdown. \u201cIt is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict,\u201d Vought wrote in the letter, which was addressed to the heads of federal offices and agencies.<\/p>\n

Democrats have demanded an extension of premium tax credits for ACA plans, which expire at the end of the year. They also want to undo Republican cuts to Medicaid and public media outlets, while preventing Trump\u2019s use of a \u201cpocket rescission<\/a>\u201d to further gut foreign aid.<\/p>\n

The total cost of those provisions is expected to hit $1tn, while about 10 million people are set to lose healthcare due to the Medicaid cuts, as well as to changes to the ACA. Without an extension of the tax credits for premiums, health insurance prices will rise for around 20 million people.<\/p>\n

While Thune has said he would be willing to negotiate over extending the ACA credits, he insists new government funding be approved first.<\/p>\n

Democratic leaders say they are not backing down, but signs have emerged of dissent within their ranks. Three members of the Democratic caucus voted for the Republican proposal on Tuesday evening \u2013 two more than when the bill was first considered earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cracks in the Democrats are already showing,\u201d Senate Republican whip John Barrasso said.<\/p>\n

Democrats who broke with their party indicated they did so out of concern for what the Trump administration<\/a> might do when the government shuts down. Federal law gives agencies and departments some leeway in determining which operations continue when funding lapses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot support a costly shutdown that would hurt Nevada families and hand even more power to this reckless administration,\u201d said Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto.<\/p>\n

Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, called the vote \u201cone of the most difficult\u201d of his Senate career, but said: \u201cThe paradox is by shutting the government we\u2019re actually giving Donald Trump<\/a> more power, and that was why I voted yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s John Fetterman, the sole Democrat to vote for the Republican funding bill when it was first considered a week and a half ago, supported it once again, saying: \u201cMy vote was for our country over my party. Together, we must find a better way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the party that instigates a shutdown has historically failed to achieve their goals, polls have given mixed verdicts on how the public views the Democrats\u2019 tactics.<\/p>\n

A New York Times\/Siena poll<\/a> taken last week found that only 27% of respondents said the Democrats should shut down the government, while 65% thought they should not. Among Democrats, the split was 47% in favor of a shutdown and 43% against, while 59% of independents were opposed to a shutdown.<\/p>\n

A Marist poll <\/a>released on Tuesday found that 38% of voters would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown, 27% would blame the Democrats and 31% would point a finger at both parties.<\/p>\n

Republican senator Ted Cruz \u2013 an architect of a 2013 shutdown intended to defund the ACA \u2013 described Democrats\u2019s shutdown threat as a \u201ctemper tantrum\u201d that would go nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying to show \u2026 that they hate Trump,\u201d Cruz told reporters. \u201cIt will end inevitably in capitulation. At some point they\u2019re going to turn the lights on again, but first they have to rage into the night.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US government shut down on Wednesday, after congressional Democrats refused to support a Republican plan to extend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-464997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115297348887418533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}