Shutdown is here.

The House already passed the CR.

They really don't have to come back and 'do something' till the Senate passes something. If the something the Senate passes differs, then the House and Senate have to reconcile and both have to vote again.

If the Senate passes the House CR we are done.

Senate isn’t going to get the House CR. It doesn’t matter how many times you vote on the same bill, the vote isn’t going to change.
Ten votes so far. Three weeks wasted.

The only solution is to negotiate a compromise. The House CR is not acceptable. How long will the Senate refuse to sit down and talk? You can’t work a compromise until people start talking to each other.

In the meantime, Rome burns.
 
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I think you are right. This is playing out exactly as planned.

Schumer spoke with Punchbowl News, an outlet based in Washington, D.C., and said that as the shutdown continues, things keep getting "better" for the Democrats.

"Every day gets better for us," Schumer reportedly told Punchbowl News. "It’s because we’ve thought about this long in advance, and we knew that health care would be the focal point on Sept. 30, and we prepared for it… Their whole theory was — threaten us, bamboozle us, and we would submit in a day or two."

It's a game of chicken. 🐔

As far as the stock market is concerned... Wall Street is yawning.
 
Senate isn’t going to get the House CR. It doesn’t matter how many times you vote on the same bill, the vote isn’t going to change.
Ten votes so far. Three weeks wasted.

The only solution is to negotiate a compromise. The House CR is not acceptable. How long will the Senate refuse to sit down and talk? You can’t work a compromise until people start talking to each other.

In the meantime, Rome burns.
Uh @James48843,

If the Senate votes in the garbage the House and Senate dumped in the BBB, the House will not accept it. They will vote it down. We will be in the same place. If anything, it will be less flexible.

So, the compromise has to start in the Senate. Maybe don't lard the thing with refunding unpalatable elements of USAID. Maybe accept that NPR is no longer to be funded by the Federal Gubmint. Maybe accept that the ACA did not actually fund itself and did not result in a $2,500 savings for everybody's insurance costs and that the actual insurance will cost much more than desired - but, perhaps should have a greater subsidy because folks have become dependent on it.

So, maybe the adults in the Democratic Senate caucus wipe out the DEI and other stooopid funding from their proposal, request ONLY the ObamaCare subsidies, and see what happens. Don't give Speaker Johnson a laundry list of a hundred million dollars of stupid crap to read out in a press gaggle. Pick what is truly needed and what is functionally possible and give that a try.

BTW, nobody cares about the fearsome Gubmint Shutdown.
 
Today- An ELEVENTH VOTE with zero changes in votes in the Senate. Seven Senators (3 R, 3D and Bernie Sanders) did not vote .

Senate vote fails again as shutdown becomes one of the longest in US history​

Source: The Guardian

Mon 20 Oct 2025 18.39 EDT
First published on Mon 20 Oct 2025 11.26 EDT


One of the longest government shutdowns in US history just got longer after the Senate again failed to pass a funding resolution after a majority of Democrats continued their pressure campaign after the No Kings nationwide weekend protests. The Senate vote fell for the 11th time with a vote of 50 to 43, with no new detractors from the Democratic side.

Mike Johnson, the House speaker, has for weeks kept the House shuttered on an extended recess, and defended his strategy as necessary to push Senate Democrats into passing the House’s continuing resolution without policy additions. But Democrats have refused to support the measure without provisions addressing healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year.

Johnson, in a Monday morning press conference flanked by other Republican congressional leaders including Andy Harris, the House freedom caucus chair, said the reason for the shutdown was to appease Democratic voters, particularly putting blame on the No Kings rallies. “It is exactly why Chuck Schumer is pandering, in this whole charade. We’ve explained from the very beginning, the shutdown is about one thing and one thing alone: Chuck Schumer’s political survival,” Johnson said.

The stuffed vote also came after a prominent Republican lawmaker, representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, on Monday morning criticized Johnson’s strategy, calling on the House to return to session immediately. “The House should be in session working,” Greene wrote on X. “We should be finishing appropriations. Our committees should be working. We should be passing bills that make President Trump’s executive orders permanent. I have no respect for the decision to refuse to work.” The callout from Greene, who is aligned with the right flank of her party, is a noticeable crack in support for Johnson’s hardline approach from the GOP over an extended congressional recess.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/20/government-shutdown-republicans-longest-history

Well, tomorrow is another day. Will the House actually meet tomorrow? Will the new Congresswomsn get sworn in in time to sign the discharge petition?

Will there be another, TWELVTH vote, with something other than thee ed sane result?

Tune in tomorrow…..
 
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The House does not matter right now.
The Senate must pass a CR bill.

If it is the same as the House's then Trump will sign it same day.
If it differs from the House bill, then a reconciliation and revote of the reconciled bill has to take place in both the House and the Senate.

The House has nothing to do with this. The Senate may not want the House bill, but they have not actually created a bill to reconcile.
 
Another day, and another attempt at a cloture vote.

Exactly the same bill as has been previously voted on unsuccessfully eleven previous times. Senate republicans once again refuse to negotiate, and out the same bill up for a vote.

And for the Twelfth time, the bill fails to get cloture.

Vote fails 54-46. For the twelfth time.

And then they gave lifetime judgeships to three guys, and then they called it a day. And adjourned.


No progress, no discussion on a compromise.

I’m beginning to think Michael Johnson intends to never call the House into session again. The House- Congress- is just- over.

What’s next? Come on pols- do something.
 
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The CR voted through by the House would pass 54-46 in the Senate.
That CR bill is being filibustered.

The House does not need to change it's bill - it does not know what is acceptable by the Senate. The Senate has to pass a CR bill. If the Senate passes the same CR bill as the House then it goes to the President and he has already stated he would sign it.

If the Senate comes up with another bill, then Speaker Johnson will have to herd cats to get that bill passed by the House. It is very doubtful he can herd enough cats to pass the current CR proposed by the Democrats. There are just too many poison pills in it to do so. Maybe the Senate Democrats can create a bill that is the same as the House bill, but with the temporary ObamaCare COVID 19 subsidies included. They might peel off some Senate Republicans and I doubt the Republicans will filibuster. However, we all know the House Freedom Caucus will block vote against the re-funding of temporary COVID spending, and we all know the House Squad will vote against something that doesn't have the other stuff. So, there we go.

In reality, the only vote possible is really the current House Bill.
 

GOP senator blocks Democratic bill to pay all federal employees during shutdown​

BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 10/23/25 12:16 PM ET. The Hill

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) objected to a request by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) on Thursday for the Senate to immediately consider and pass a bill to pay all federal workers, members of the military and federal contractors during the 2025 government shutdown.

It was one of two Democratic-sponsored bills to pay federal workers during the shutdown that Johnson rejected on the floor.
The True Shutdown Fairness Act, sponsored by Van Hollen, would also prevent the Trump administration from attempting mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown, employee restructurings known as reductions in force.

The Military and Federal Employee Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), would allow all military service members, federal employees and contractors to receive the pay that they have missed so far during the shutdown. It would not pay government workers beyond the date of the measure’s enactment.

Johnson blocked both measures, arguing they were too complex to approve by unanimous consent.

More: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5569758-ron-johnson-chris-van-hollen-shutdown-pay-bill/
 

Democrats block bill to pay military, essential workers during shutdown​

BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 10/23/25 1:18 PM ET The Hill

Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-sponsored bill Thursday to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have been required to work during the government shutdown.

Democrats blocked the Shutdown Fairness Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance.

Johnson’s bill would also have guaranteed pay for federal workers who are on duty throughout the shutdown, including air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration agents, park rangers, federal law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, Thune said.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) blasted the Republican bill as a “ruse” that would give White House budget director Russell Vought broad authority to pick and choose which federal departments and agencies to reopen and which to keep closed.

More:
 
So it’s another day, and the Federal Government remains dysfunctional.

A friend of mine, a retiree, died in September. His survivor tried to file for Federal Employee life insurance claim.

Apparently they are not processing any FEGLI claims during the shutdown. They let you apply, but nothing else is done.

She now needs to borrow $12,000 for the funeral costs, as she doesn’t have that in cash today. But Social Security WAS able to stop the monthly checks.

Just one of millions of victims of the failure to govern.

Cue the Ground Hog Day
 
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So the score today was:

Two bills considered- zero allowed to proceed. Both those bills ONLY paid certain Feds who are still working. They’ve apparently stopped trying to get the whole government back open.

And the Senate has now left town until NEXT WEEK.


They next meet October 27.
 
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@James48843 ,

One of the bills would have paid all Federal workers.
The other would have paid all Federal workers recalled to work.

A little different, but personally I would have accepted both. I don't know if one or both had poison pills included.



@waltj,

If you are recalled to work you are working and you should be paid. Kinda simple.
 
The point is- EVERYBODY should be at work, and be paid. That will only happen when the two sides and work out a compromise that works. They still aren’t having that conversation yet, and they are (Senators) supposed to be the adults in the room hammering out deals.

(Sigh).

The Senate is out now until Monday, the 27th.

Those Senate folks have short work weeks.
 
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