What you need to know
• Historic shutdown: We are now in the longest government shutdown in US history, at 36 days. It surpasses the previous record set during President Donald Trump’s first term.
• Stalemate in Congress: Roughly a dozen Senate Democrats have privately signaled they are willing to support a stopgap funding deal in exchange for a future vote on health care, according to sources. Negotiations are still ongoing on exactly what kind of legislation the Senate would take up.
• Trump meets GOP lawmakers: Trump — who blamed the shutdown in part for GOP losses in yesterday’s elections — urged Republican senators this morning to eliminate the filibuster to reopen the government, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune again ruled out.
• Widening impacts: The White House said yesterday it would follow through with plans to partially fund food aid benefits after Trump threatened to withhold them until the shutdown ends, and Federal Aviation Administration staffing shortages have been causing delays at major airports.
New Jersey and Virginia Democrats argue elections sent "crystal clear" message blaming GOP for shutdown
Democratic Sens. Andy Kim of New Jersey and Tim Kaine of Virginia argued Tuesday’s elections sent a “crystal clear” message to President Donald Trump and Republicans on who voters blame for the government shutdown.
“He seems to think the shutdown is somebody else’s problem,” Kaine said of Trump. “The American public overwhelmingly blamed Trump for it, because he is at fault.”
Kaine did not think the electoral victories would make Democrats dig in further.
“We feel very, very good today, we feel good about the midterms, I don’t think it affects — we want government to be reopened, we don’t want people’s health care costs to spike. And we feel that way today, just like we felt that way day before yesterday,” he said.
Kaine hasn’t been involved in the health care negotiations, but said he’s pushed for a guarantee the administration wouldn’t immediately rescind more funding or layoff more federal employees once the government is reopened.
Kim argued voters’ message to Democrats was they want to see them fight back.
“I think it further solidifies for me that people want help, that people want help from all the damage that Trump is doing when it comes to health care, when it comes to the lawlessness that we’re seeing in our streets, and they want to make sure we’re standing up and fighting against it,” he said.
Kim added, “Trump, very clearly, this morning, is shaken and rattled by what has happened. He knows that this is a very firm condemnation to his lack of governance and his lack of leadership, and I hope the Republicans are worried and scared about what’s going to happen to their party next year.”
Murkowski says shutdown impacted Tuesday's election results and voters recognize "we're the party in power"
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she agrees with President Donald Trump the ongoing stalemate that has resulted in the longest government shutdown in history led to less-than-satisfactory results for Republicans in Tuesday night’s elections.
“I think it had an impact, yeah. I think people pay attention to that,” she told CNN Wednesday.
“I think people saw the shutdown, recognized that it’s Congress that makes that decision and we’re the party in power,” she said.
In the first major elections since Trump took office for a second term, Democrats are projected to win gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, and Andrew Cuomo conceded Tuesday evening to self-described Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City’s mayoral race – despite Trump’s last minute endorsement.
Follow our coverage of Tuesday’s elections and the Democratic wins here.
Thune: Not enough GOP votes to change filibuster
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said bluntly there are not enough Senate Republican votes to weaken the filibuster even as he acknowledged President Donald Trump could be influential in persuading some senators to change their minds.
“There are not the votes there,” he said when asked by CNN if he is still committed to upholding the filibuster in the wake of Trump’s public campaign to change it. “The main thing we need to be focused on right now, in my view, is getting the government opened up again.”
“The president’s views on the filibuster, you know, have been long held,” he added. “It’s not like it’s surprising anybody.”
Asked if he’s worried Trump could persuade his members to change the filibuster threshold, Thune said: “He’s obviously very influential and our members want to do everything they can to be good partners and help him implement his agenda. So I don’t doubt that he could have some sway with members, but I just know, where the math is on this issue in the Senate, and it’s not just not happening.”
Thune was asked twice if Trump’s filibuster push will make it harder at this sensitive time for the Senate GOP leader to cut a deal with Democrats to end the government shutdown, but he did not directly answer.
On that front, he said he hopes “in the next few days” there will be enough Democrats who agree to do that.
The shutdown, he said, could have hurt Republican candidates in northern Virginia and acknowledged the Republican gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey may have lost by a larger margin than expected.
“But,” he added, “I think in the end, these results were pretty much expected.”
Sanders rejects push for a compromise to end shutdown with a health care vote: "It goes nowhere"
Sen. Bernie Sanders said Tuesday night’s projected wins by Democrats in the first major elections since President Donald Trump took office were a sign the Democratic Party should hold firm in its demands to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for votes to reopen the government.
Asked if the promise from GOP leadership of an ACA vote, as some moderate Democrats have signaled could win over their support for a short-term government funding bill, was sufficient to end the stalemate, Sanders said: “What do you think the vote means? It’s a vote. Maybe you win, maybe you lose. It goes nowhere.”
“What is important is that we protect the health care of the American people. We prevent 20 million people seeing the doubling or tripling of their health care costs, 15 million people being thrown off health care. That’s what the issue, not a vote. Got to vote every day here. What does the vote mean?” he continued.
The Vermont independent, who is a leading progressive voice in the Democratic caucus, said “absolutely” he believes the Senate needs to reach a deal to end the shutdown, but an agreement must include “the fact that we’re not going to double premiums for 20 million Americans.”
Sanders slammed Trump’s Medicaid cuts that Democrats also seek to rollback as part of funding negotiations, explaining, “That is what this shutdown is about.”
Trump and the GOP, Sanders said, are “beginning to catch on that they’re playing a losing hand.”
Trump made the case that GOP is getting hurt more by shutdown — and Sen. Graham pushed back
President Donald Trump at his breakfast meeting with senators said the shutdown is hurting the GOP more than Democrats because they are in charge in Washington, according to a person familiar with the remarks.
That prompted a spirited back-and-forth with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, the source said, about the Senate’s filibuster rules.
Trump has been demanding the GOP gut the filibuster to advance legislation with 51 votes — rather than 60 – but that has been met with sharp resistance from Republicans worried about abandoning a potent tool if they are back in the minority.
In post-election memo, progressives warn against "caving without concessions"
Progressives on Capitol Hill are circulating a talking points memo Wednesday morning that warns, “Caving without concessions would sap Democrats’ momentum and undercut the party’s support from its base.”
At least some progressive advocacy groups and House and Senate offices had received the memo, though it remained unclear the extent to which Democratic lawmakers were backing it. The memo was unsigned.
Some lawmakers had separately begun to make the argument publicly.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, for example, wrote on X: “It’s also not a coincidence these big wins came at the exact moment when Democrats are using our power to stand for something and be strong. A huge risk to not learn that lesson.”
Follow our coverage of Tuesday’s elections and the Democratic wins here.
Jeffries and Schumer again demand to meet with Trump to discuss shutdown
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are once again calling on President Donald Trump to meet with them as the government shutdown becomes the longest in history.
Schumer and Jeffries previously met with Trump at the White House in September just before the beginning of the shutdown.
Trump tells GOP senators to eliminate filibuster to reopen government and stay in power
President Donald Trump urged GOP senators to eliminate the filibuster Wednesday morning while addressing them at a White House breakfast that included Majority Leader John Thune, who’s made his opposition known to doing away with the 60-vote threshold.
“I think it is very important, we have to get the country open and the way we’re going to do it this afternoon is to terminate the filibuster,” Trump said.
The president then said he’d abide by GOP lawmakers’ wishes but added that it would be “a tremendous mistake” if they didn’t — one that could cost them future elections.
“It’s possible you’re not gonna do that, and I’m gonna go by your wishes. You’re very smart people, we’re good friends. But I think it’s a tremendous mistake, really.”
Thune, who’s warned that Democrats could abuse such a rules change if they regain power, was expressionless as Trump railed against the filibuster.
The president argued that it was the only way for his party to get things done — and suggested Democrats would do the same, despite the party refusing to do so in recent years.
“If they take power — and it’s more likely that they take power if we don’t do it, because we’re not gonna be passing any legislation,” Trump said.
“They’re gonna do it the first day,” he added, arguing that Democrats would attempt to “pack” the Supreme Court and try to make Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico states.
“Now if we do what I’m saying, they most likely will likely never obtain power,” he continued.
There were several exchanged looks between senators and virtual silence as Trump went on to castigate his party over their shutdown strategy, CNN’s Kaitlan Collins notes from inside the room.
Trump compares Democrats to kamikaze pilots as he expresses frustration about shutdown
President Donald Trump expressed frustration this morning that Democrats aren’t fielding their share of the blame for the now record-long government shutdown and said he disagreed with those who believed there would be more appetite for reopening after Tuesday’s election.
“It is Democrat-created, but I don’t think they’re getting really the blame that they should,” Trump told Senate Republicans after the Democrats swept major races.
Democrats, Trump said, “have shown zero interest in reopening the government.” The president added that while he had heard that there would be interest in reopening “after the election,” he didn’t think there would be.
The president, who has repeatedly described the government shutdown in a positive light, cast a markedly different tone today as he listed some of the painful impacts being felt across the country.
“Millions of Americans are going to be without SNAP benefits,” he said, adding that “countless public servants are now not being paid,” and that “the air traffic control system is under increasing strain.”
The shutdown, he added, is also “affecting the stock market now a little bit.”
“We must get the government back open soon, and really immediately. We have to get it (open),” he said.
Out-of-work federal workers urge Democrats to hold the line
Some fired or furloughed federal workers on Capitol Hill — despite not getting paid — are trying to encourage Senate Democrats to stand firm on their position and not give in to Republican pressure.
Watch:
CNN's Annie Grayer spoke with some fired or furloughed federal workers on Capitol Hill Tuesday who despite not getting paid, are trying to encourage Senate Democrats to stand firm on their position and not give in to Republican pressure.
Virginia governor-elect Spanberger urged Congress to end shutdown during victory speech
Abigail Spanberger, CNN’s projected winner of the Virginia governor’s race, called on lawmakers and President Donald Trump to “make real progress” to end the ongoing government shutdown.
“The Virginians, the Americans, who work tirelessly for their fellow citizens deserve nothing less,” she said in her victory speech last night.
In Virginia, the ongoing shutdown and Trump’s efforts to remake the government have affected hundreds of thousands of federal workers who were expected to play a central role in today’s election.
Spanberger said “we’re living in a time filled with chaos,” but “the only way we’re going to solve these problems is by tackling them together — Democrats, Republicans, independents, all of us.”
Trump ties GOP losses to government shutdown
President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to distance himself from disappointing results for Republicans on the ballot last night.
““TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” Trump posted in his first public comments following Tuesday’s election results, citing unnamed “Pollsters.””
The president endorsed New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli during the state’s GOP primary earlier this year and held tele-rallies for candidates in New Jersey and Virginia in the lead up to the elections, though he stopped short of explicitly endorsing Republican Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia governor’s race.
And, in an 11th-hour post Monday, Trump urged his supporters to back former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over Republican Curtis Sliwa and Democrat Zohran Mamdani in the city’s mayor’s race.
Ciattarelli, Earle-Sears and Cuomo all lost their respective races, according to CNN projections.
Trump is meeting GOP senators this morning. Here's what else is on his schedule
President Donald Trump is kicking off his day by having breakfast at 8:30 a.m. ET with GOP senators, as the government shutdown becomes the longest in US history.
He’ll then head to Miami, where he is set to deliver remarks at the America Business Forum at 1 p.m. ET.
Trump’s return to the White House is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
Roughly a dozen Senate Democrats signal openness to deal to open government
Roughly a dozen Senate Democrats have privately signaled they are willing to support a stopgap funding deal to reopen the government in exchange for a future vote on health care, according to two Democratic sources familiar with the discussions.
Negotiations are still ongoing on exactly what kind of stopgap funding bill the Senate would take up and how it would pass the House. But the presence of 10 to 12 Senate Democrats open to the deal could be a breakthrough in the funding standoff. That support would be more than enough for Congress to end the funding standoff that has ground Washington to a halt for more than a month.
That assessment of Democrats’ attitude after a tense, nearly three-hour meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus inside the Capitol on Tuesday, where lawmakers hashed out the details of the still-emerging plan to reopen the government.
A group of Senate centrists has discussed a deal that would involve a short-term funding plan — likely through January — as well as a package of three bipartisan full-year bills that include priorities for both parties. Republicans would also commit to a future vote on extending the Obamacare subsidies, though Senate Democrats — including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have previously said it is not enough to get their votes.
During that lunch, Schumer stayed quiet and did not express a preference as his colleagues aired their views, those sources said.
Day 36: This is now the longest government shutdown in history
As the government shutdown crosses into its 36th day, it officially becomes the longest in history.
The last time the government shut down — which started on December 22, 2018, and went until January 25, 2019 — it lasted 35 days, which was previously the longest. It cost the United States an estimated $3 billion in lost GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Here’s a look at other times the government failed to be funded:
