House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference during day 3 of the government shutdown on Capitol Hill, on Friday, October 3, 2025, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP
Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown faded on Friday as Democrats refused to budge in a Senate vote and President Donald Trump readied plans to unleash layoffs and cuts across the federal government.
On the third day of the shutdown, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government fell well short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster and pass the legislation.
Senators were expected to depart for the weekend, and there have been few signs of any real progress towards ending the congressional standoff.
Democrats are demanding that Congress extend healthcare benefits, while Republicans are trying to wear them down with day after day of voting on the House-passed bill that would reopen the government temporarily, mostly at current spending levels.
“I don’t know how many times you’re going to give them a chance to vote no,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said at a news conference on Friday. He added that he would give Democratic senators the weekend to think it over.
Although Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Senate’s filibuster rules make it necessary for the government funding legislation to gain support from at least 60 of the 100 senators.
That’s given Democrats a rare opportunity to use their 47 Senate seats to hold out in exchange for policy concessions. The party has chosen to rally on the issue of health care, believing it could be key to their path back to power in Washington.
Their primary demand is that Congress extend tax credits that were boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic for health care plans offered under the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said, “Understand this, over the last few days and over the next few days, what you’re going to see is more than 20 million Americans experience dramatically increased health care premiums, co-pays and deductibles because of the Republican unwillingness to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
The shutdown gamble
Democrats are running the high-risk strategy of effectively voting for a government shutdown to make their stand. Mr. Trump has vowed to make it as painful as possible for them.
The Republican President has called the government funding lapse an “unprecedented opportunity” to make vast cuts to federal agencies and potentially lay off federal workers, rather than the typical practice of furloughing them. White House budget director Russ Vought has already announced that he is withholding billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in states with Democratic senators.
On Friday morning, Mr. Vought said he would withhold another $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects to extend its train system to the city’s South Side.
Published – October 04, 2025 05:27 am IST
