The U.S. government shutdown entered its second week on Monday (October 6, 2025), with no sign of a deal between President Donald Trump’s Republicans and Democrats to end the crisis.

Democrats are refusing to provide the handful of votes the ruling Republicans need to reopen federal departments unless the two sides can agree on extending expiring health care subsidies.

With the government out of money since Wednesday and grinding to a halt, Senate Democrats looked set to vote against a House-passed temporary funding bill for a fifth time.

The hard line taken by Democrats marks a rare moment of leverage for the opposition party in a period when Mr. Trump and his ultra-loyal Republicans control every branch of government — and Mr. Trump himself is accused of seeking to amass authoritarian-like powers.

With funding not renewed, non-critical services are being suspended.

Pay for hundreds of thousands of public sector employees is set to be withheld from Friday (October 10), while military personnel could miss their first check on October 15.

Threat of lay off

And Mr. Trump has radically upped the ante by threatening to fire large numbers of government employees, rather than just furlough them, as has been done in every other shutdown over the years.

Republicans are digging in their heels, with House Speaker Mike Johnson telling his members not even to come to Congress unless the Democrats cave.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Republicans were the ones stalling any hopes of negotiations.

“Mike Johnson and House Republicans need to get back into town. Do your jobs. Democrats will be present,” he told a news conference in New York on Sunday.

Mr. Johnson — who was due to address journalists at the U.S. Capitol — in turn blamed the Democrats’ Senate leader Chuck Schumer.

“We need them to turn the lights back on so that everyone can do their work. The House did our work,” he told NBC.

Health care worries

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Education, Housing, Commerce and Labour departments have been the hardest hit by staff being placed on enforced leave during the shutdown, the New York Times reported.

The Justice, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Departments, along with the Treasury and Office of Personnel Management have seen the least effects so far, according to the Times breakdown.

With members of Congress at home and no formal talks taking place in either chamber, a CBS News poll released on Sunday showed the public blaming Republicans by a narrow margin for the gridlock.

Democrats say that, if no action is taken, 24 million Americans are set to see their insurance premiums under the Obamacare health insurance scheme double next year, while four million will lose their health care altogether.

Republicans argue the expiring health care subsidies are nothing to do with keeping the government open and can be dealt with separately before the end of the year.

Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, said Sunday layoffs would begin “if the president decides that the negotiations are absolutely going nowhere.”

Mr. Trump has already sent a steamroller through government since taking office for his second term in January.

Spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, 200,000 jobs had already been cut from the federal workforce before the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan, Partnership for Public Service.

White House budget office orders federal agencies to begin implementing shutdown plans after failure of funding bill. Democrats vote down GOP bill to keep the government open, putting it on track for shutdown after midnight.

Trump administration is using official government communications to blame Democrats and promote the President’s policies.

At least one agency has posted a public warning blaming “the massive pain” of any shutdown on “The Radical Left,” provoking questions about potential violations of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees.

While furloughs of employees have been part of previous shutdowns, federal agencies under President Donald Trump have also been urged to consider more permanent reductions in force for programs “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

Here’s a look at the shutdown messaging coming from the federal government:

Visitors to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website on Tuesday were greeted with a pop-up message warning that “The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands.”

“The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people,” the rest of the message read.

Asked about the banner on HUD’s website that accuses Democrats of trying to shut down the government, agency spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in a statement that “the Far Left is barreling our country toward a shut down, which will hurt all Americans.”

Some internet users suggested the message would violate the Hatch Act, an 80-year-old law that restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees. HUD officials pushed back on those claims, noting the banner did not refer to an election, and did not mention any party or politician by name.

Employees across the federal government have reported receiving messages noting Mr. Trump’s general opposition to a shutdown.

Employees at the Departments of Interior, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Justice received a message noting that Trump “opposes a government shutdown, and strongly supports the enactment of HR 5371,” the GOP-backed bill to fund the government through Nov. 21.

“Unfortunately Democrats are blocking the resolution in the Senate due to unrelated policy demands,” the message went on. “If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean continuing resolution to keep the government funded before midnight on Sept. 30, 2025, federal funding will lapse.”

Some agencies, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, posted more informational notices online, detailing planning for operating status changes “concurrently with the rest of the federal government.”

Some federal employees would be furloughed during a shutdown, and the White House’s budget office has warned agencies to consider permanently cutting staff in some of the areas that would be affected, a new twist on the situation.

U.S. shutdown and lay off

In a memo released last week, the Office of Management and Budget said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse this week, are not otherwise funded and are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.” That would be a much more aggressive step than in previous shutdowns, when federal workers not deemed essential were furloughed but returned to their jobs once Congress approved government spending.

A reduction in force would not only lay off employees but eliminate their positions. That would trigger another massive upheaval in a federal workforce that has already faced major rounds of cuts this year due to efforts from the Department of Government Efficiency and elsewhere in the Trump administration.