What we're covering
• Congressional impasse: The Senate is voting on the Republicans’ stopgap funding bill after it failed to advance again yesterday. The divide in the chamber seems to be growing, with GOP Sen. John Kennedy predicting the shutdown could be the longest ever if Democrats stand by their health care-related demands.
• Shutdown layoffs: A judge yesterday halted the Trump administration’s efforts to lay off roughly 4,000 federal workers. Before the ruling, the Office of Management and Budget director said that layoffs would likely reach “north of 10,000.” Read key takeaways from CNN’s town hall with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders with those impacted by the shutdown.
• Trump’s schedule today: Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladmir Putin, White House officials told CNN, ahead of his meeting tomorrow with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump’s also set to make “an announcement” at the White House.
• Has the government shutdown affected you? CNN wants to hear your story.
Speaker Johnson says he's "mad Mike" on day 16 of government shutdown with "no idea" on how it will end
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was “mad Mike” on day 16 of the government shutdown with no end in sight.
“Many of you have asked all of us, how will it end? We have no idea. It’s up to the Democrats,” Johnson said.
“I don’t like being mad Mike, I want to, I want to be happy. I want to be the happy warrior. But I am so upset about this,” Johnson said.
When asked by CNN if it was time for President Donald Trump to get more involved in the stalemate on Capitol Hill, Johnson said, “he already has been.”
Johnson said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer would not accept Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s offer to have a standalone vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies without a “guaranteed outcome.”
Pressed whether he would put a vote on ACA subsidies on the House floor, Johnson said “none of us can guarantee an outcome on that” and said the government needed to be open to allow negotiations over the enhanced subsidies to kick into full force.
NOW: The Senate is voting on Republicans' proposal to fund the government
Senators are now voting on a short-term government funding proposal from the Republican Party.
The House-passed stopgap bill would fund the government through November 21. It does not address the Democrats’ health care demands.
It needs 60 votes to advance, meaning Republicans would need Democrats to sign on.
Trump to speak with Putin today ahead of Zelensky meeting
President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladmir Putin on Thursday, two White House officials told CNN.
The call comes ahead of Trump’s Friday meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where the two are expected to discuss the potential of the US providing the country with long-range Tomahawk missiles, as well as Kyiv taking a more offensive position in its war against Russia, the officials said.
It also comes as Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin in recent weeks for failing to seriously negotiate an end to the war.
Senate GOP leader says he told Democrats he could guarantee a vote on Obamacare subsidies
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he told Democrats he could guarantee a vote on Affordable Care Act subsidies by a certain date, adding that “at some point Democrats have to take yes for an answer” to end the government shutdown.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Vitali, Thune repeated that Republicans are “willing to have the conversation” about health care but that discussions about Obamacare premium subsidies need “to happen in a separate context.”
Remember: Those subsidies, which help Americans pay monthly premiums, are at the center of the shutdown stalemate, with Democrats demanding an extension to them as open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans begins in November.
The Senate majority leader said he couldn’t guarantee that the subsidies would pass in a vote, but “I can guarantee you that there will be a process and you will get a vote.” With the funds set to expire at the end of the year, however, Democrats have said Republicans have not negotiated and that there has not been a meaningful proposal to extend them.
In an interview moments later, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries did not say if he believed Democrats would be supportive of Thune’s proposal. “I haven’t confirmed that that’s an actual offer that’s been made,” Jeffries told Vitali.
Thune added in the MSNBC interview that he hoped the shutdown would not “last through Thanksgiving” and that there’s a “path forward” on these issues.
Here is what is on Trump's schedule today
This is what’s listed on President Donald Trump’s public schedule from the White House:
• 11 a.m. ET: Trump receives an intelligence briefing.
• 3 p.m. ET: Trump makes an announcement, which is open to press.
We’ll let you know when we find out more details.
Over in Congress, the Senate is in session at 10 a.m. ET. The chamber is expected to vote again on the GOP funding bill proposal, which failed once more yesterday.
Here's what happened at our town hall with AOC and Bernie Sanders
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins explains the key takeaways from the latest town hall with independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, which highlighted the deep divide over reopening the federal government.
Many federal employees missed their first paycheck this week, but some others will still get paid
Many federal employees missed their first paycheck of the shutdown this week, which is now on its 16th day. But some select others will still get paid, as the Trump administration moves around money for FBI agents and members of the military.
• FBI: The agency’s director Kash Patel said yesterday the administration plans to continue paying FBI agents during the shutdown. “You found a way to get these individuals paid during a government shutdown,” he told President Donald Trump at an event on crime in the Oval Office.
• Military: Trump also directed the Pentagon to find money to pay active-duty military and reserves currently performing active service. The president wrote in a national security memo yesterday that allowing the armed forces to go without pay “presents a serious and unacceptable threat to military readiness.”
CNN reported earlier this week that the funds for military paychecks will be pulled from the Pentagon’s research and development money that’s available for two years, according to a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget.
• WIC: The administration also moved to fund a food assistance program known as WIC that was poised to run out of money due to the shutdown.
