Congress remains deadlocked, with government shutdown now on day 35
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, speaks at a press conference Nov. 4, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. He was joined by, from left, House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg of Michigan. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
by Shauneen Miranda, Iowa Capital Dispatch
November 4, 2025
This report has been updated.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Tuesday failed for the 14th time to advance a stopgap spending bill to fund the government, as the ongoing shutdown hit 35 days and is now tied with the shutdown of 2018-2019 as the longest ever.
The 54-44 vote was nearly identical to the previous 13 votes, as Republicans and Democrats remained unwilling to change positions. The legislation extending funding to Nov. 21 needed at least 60 votes to advance, per the Senate’s legislative filibuster.
Even though the upper chamber has been unable to pass a stopgap spending measure for more than a month, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that he believes senators are “making progress.”
He floated keeping the Senate in session next week. The chamber is scheduled to be in recess for the Veterans Day holiday.
“We’ll think through that as the week progresses, but I guess my hope would be we’ll make some progress,” he said.
Thune added that any stopgap spending bill will need to be extended past Nov. 21, “because we’re almost up against the November deadline right now.”
Duffy warns of flight ‘chaos’ due to staff shortages
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned during a Tuesday press conference at the Department of Transportation that if the government shutdown continues into next week, it would lead to “chaos” and certain airspace would need to be closed due to a shortage of air traffic controllers who have continued to work amid the shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said at a separate press conference at the Capitol that he would bring the House back to vote on a stopgap spending measure if the Senate extends the funding date.
“If the Senate passes something, of course we’ll come back,” Johnson said. “We’re running out of (the) clock.”
Johnson said he is “not a fan” of extending the bill to December and would prefer a January deadline.
He said extending a stopgap funding bill “into January makes sense, but we got to, obviously, build consensus around that.”
Senators at odds
On Tuesday’s Senate vote, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, both Democrats, and Maine independent Sen. Angus King voted with Republicans to advance the legislation. Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted no.
Senate Democrats have refused to support the House-passed GOP measure over concerns about the expiration of health care tax subsidies. As open enrollment begins, people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace are seeing a drastic spike in premium costs.
Republicans have maintained that any negotiations on health care must occur after Democrats agree to fund the government.
The Trump administration has also tried to pressure Democrats to accept the House stopgap spending measure by instructing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to not tap into its contingency fund to provide critical food assistance to 42 million Americans.
SNAP fight
Two federal courts have found the Trump administration acted unlawfully in holding back those benefits, and on Monday USDA announced it would partially release Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
However, President Donald Trump Tuesday morning wrote on his social media platform that SNAP benefits would only be released when Democrats vote to reopen the government, a move that would likely violate the two court orders.
“SNAP BENEFITS, which increased by Billions and Billions of Dollars (MANY FOLD!) during Crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous term in office (Due to the fact that they were haphazardly ‘handed’ to anyone for the asking, as opposed to just those in need, which is the purpose of SNAP!), will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!,” he wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Tuesday briefing that the president’s social media post did not refer to the court order, but was referring to future SNAP payments.
“The president doesn’t want to tap into this (contingency) fund in the future and that’s what he was referring to,” she said.
‘Republican health care crisis’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York stood firm in his party’s demands over extending health care tax credits in order to back a stopgap spending bill during a Tuesday press conference at the Capitol.
“We want to reopen the government — we want to find a bipartisan path forward toward enacting a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people, that lowers costs for the American people, as opposed to the Trump economy where things are getting more expensive by the day,” Jeffries said.
“And, of course, we have to decisively address the Republican health care crisis that is crushing the American people all across the land.”
He noted that Republicans’ refusal to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits would result in “tens of millions of Americans experiencing dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles.”
An analysis by KFF shows that those enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace who currently receive a tax credit are likely to see their monthly premium payments more than double by about 114% on average.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the spike in health care premiums will cause some people to choose to forgo health care insurance.
“It’s a five-alarm health care emergency,” Schumer said.
Johnson’s January CR rationale
Meanwhile, Johnson said at his press conference that “a lot of people around here have PTSD about Christmas omnibus spending bills,” when speaking out against a December extension of the stopgap spending bill.
GOP leaders have sought to do away with the practice of bundling at the end of the year the final versions of the dozen annual government funding bills into what’s known as an omnibus package.
“We don’t want to do that. It gets too close, and we don’t want to have that risk,” Johnson said. “We’re not doing that.”
However, it’s unclear how long the new stopgap spending bill will extend. Thune, during a Tuesday press conference, said a year-long continuing resolution, or CR, was not on the table.
“There’s a conversation around what that next deadline would be,” Thune said, adding that there is not an agreement yet.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
