Where things stand now
• Shutdown, day 3: The federal government remains shut down as a deadlocked Congress still hasn’t reached a funding deal. The Trump administration has signaled thousands of government layoffs could begin as soon as today. The White House has already compiled a list of agencies to target for cuts, officials tell CNN.
• New vote, same expected result: Lawmakers are at an impasse over enhanced Obamacare subsidies, with Democrats expected to once again block a GOP-backed short-term funding bill in the Senate this afternoon. With the Senate not expected to be in session this weekend, the shutdown will likely extend into next week.
• Tracking the impact: Agencies and activities deemed essential are still open, and we’re monitoring which programs are affected so far. Is the shutdown affecting you? Tell us about it.
NOW: GOP leadership addresses government shutdown
Republican leaders are speaking now about the ongoing stalemate with Democrats on a bill to fund the federal government, which has been shut down for more than 48 hours.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has stepped up to a lectern with a sign branding the standoff as “The Democrat Shutdown.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune has joined Johnson to address reporters.
We’ll bring you updates on the comments from GOP leadership as their remarks continue.
Jeffries rejects GOP criticism of Democrats' funding proposal
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries rejected Republicans’ claims that Democrats are arguing to fund health care for undocumented immigrants as part of their proposal to reopen the government.
Jeffries reiterated that he is looking for a “bipartisan path forward” and pointed to successful Capitol Hill negotiations between the two parties during the Biden administration.
“We know throughout the Trump administration, they’ve taken a go-it-alone approach, a my-way-or-the-highway approach, and we’re not going to sit there and simple rubber stamp Donald Trump’s extreme agenda,” Jeffries said.
Asked in part about Trump’s sharing of racist, manipulated images of Jeffries, the New York Democrat called the president’s action’s “unhinged and unserious.”
“Everything that Donald Trump has done since Monday is unhinged and unserious. In fact, Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program,” he said, referring to a lack of public appearances on Trump’s official schedule since Tuesday. “No one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue, because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it.”
Thousands of federal employees have been furloughed. Here's where they work
Federal employees who are not deemed essential were furloughed as part of the government shutdown.
During a shutdown, federal employees who remain on the job often continue their work without pay until Congress acts to fund the government. Others are furloughed, meaning they are not expected to work. Once lawmakers pass a funding package and the shutdown ends, federal staffers receive back pay.
Here’s how many employees have been affected:
Analysis: Trump’s curious decision to invoke Project 2025
President Donald Trump raised eyebrows with a five-word phrase on Thursday.
While playing up the Office of Management and Budget director’s efforts to target what Trump labeled “Democrat Agencies” for cuts, he invoked something he had previously avoided like the plague.
He described Russ Vought as “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame” in a Truth Social post.
High-profile Trump allies launched Project 2025 during the campaign to lay out an extensive agenda for a second Trump term. But it wound up being an albatross. A September 2024 NBC News poll showed 57% of Americans had an unfavorable view of it, compared to just 4% who had a positive one.
On the trail, Trump distanced himself from it – at least rhetorically. He claimed he knew “nothing about Project 2025” and had “nothing to do with” the people behind it. His campaign managers celebrated the departure of the project’s director by saying, “reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed.”
Of course, as CNN and many others noted at the time, the project was rife with veterans of Trump’s first term. And since he won the 2024 election, Trump has hired many of the most prominent figures behind it, like Vought. He’s also pursued policies that closely resemble what Project 2025 proposed.
Many on the left have said Trump’s post is confirmation that he is, for all intents and purposes, implementing Project 2025.
Trump didn’t endorse Project 2025. But invoking it amid the shutdown fight is a curious decision, given the project’s unpopularity. At the very least, it would seem to signal Trump’s desire for a scorched-earth approach to the shutdown.
But just like Trump’s team last year didn’t want to be associated with Project 2025, his threat of imminent shutdown firings seems to be giving some prominent Republicans heartburn.
You might hear the term "continuing resolution" a lot during the shutdown. Here's what that means
Democrats and Republicans have not yet agreed on a stopgap funding measure — known as a continuing resolution or CR — to keep the government open, triggering a shutdown.
Continuing resolutions are bills to extend funding for the federal government on a short-term basis — often used as a way for lawmakers to avert a shutdown and allow for more time for negotiations on annual spending bills.
The bill provides funding — typically based on the previous fiscal year’s appropriations — for a specific amount of time.
A “clean” continuing resolution typically refers to one without other measures on other policy issues added on.
Government freezes $2.1 billion in Chicago infrastructure projects during shutdown, White House says
The federal government has placed $2.1 billion in infrastructure funding for Chicago on hold, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced on the third day of the government shutdown, marking another freeze on federal funds in a Democratic-run city.
The projects affected include the Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project, Vought said in a social media post, adding that the hold was to “ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
NYC infrastructure funding freeze: The move follows Vought’s announcement on Wednesday that the Trump administration was freezing approximately $18 billion in federal funding for two infrastructure projects in New York City. Vought’s announcement received pushback from New York senators, who called the hold “total BS.”
Most Americans — including many Republicans — say enhanced Obamacare subsidies should be extended, poll finds
More than three-quarters of Americans say they want Congress to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, according to a poll released today by KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
This includes 92% of Democrats and 82% of independents, but also 59% of Republicans and 57% of Make America Great Again supporters, the poll found.
Shutdown sticking point: Extending the beefed-up subsidies, which were created as part of a Biden-administration Covid-19 relief package and are set to expire at year’s end, is the top focus of congressional Democrats. They are demanding that the Republicans who control Capitol Hill include the renewal of the premiums subsidies as part of a deal to fund the federal government for fiscal year 2026, which started October 1.
Republican lawmakers, on the other hand, are pushing to pass a so-called clean continuing resolution, which would not continue the enhanced subsidies.
If the more generous subsidies lapse, Obamacare premiums could more than double in 2026, according to a recent KFF analysis. The enhancement helped draw a record 24 million people to the exchanges for this year, but millions are expected to flee in coming years if Congress doesn’t act.
Just over 2 in 5 Obamacare enrollees said they’d drop their policies if the monthly premiums nearly doubled, the KFF poll found.
Among those who want to extend the enhanced subsidies, some 39% said they would blame President Donald Trump if the more generous assistance expires while 37% said they’d blame congressional Republicans and 22% said the Democrats would be at fault.
Weekend votes on government funding proposals in question
A GOP leadership aide says the Senate is “trending” toward not holding votes this weekend.
Lawmakers, the aide said, will vote on funding proposals to reopen the government today and can use the weekend to weigh the consequences of the shutdown before another vote on Monday.
For context: Congress left town Wednesday without a solution to break its bitter impasse over government funding, with the shutdown now set to last until at least today when members return for more votes. No votes were held yesterday to allow members to observe the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
