The United States Senate returned to Washington, D.C., on Monday to attempt to negotiate a deal to extend government funding and avoid a federal shutdown set to begin later this week. If a deal is not reached, nonessential services will be suspended, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees could be sent home without pay or even fired. Although a deal remains possible, the two parties remain far apart in their agendas and seem determined to call the other’s bluff.

Trump steps in as Congress attempts to make deal to avoid shutdown

The Senate is set to resume negotiations Monday on a deal to extend government funding and avoid a government shutdown that would kick in at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday morning, as the current budget expires. Senators are set to consider competing Republican and Democratic proposals, neither of which can pass without support from senators from the opposite party. Earlier in September, President Donald Trump abruptly canceled a meeting with Democrats over the budget, but he is scheduled to meet with congressional leaders of both parties on Monday. This will be the first meeting this term between the president and congressional Democrats at the White House, and the first-ever meeting between Trump and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, per The Hill.

Democrats, Republicans dig in as deadline looms

Even with Trump’s involvement, Democrats and Republicans have a long way to go to reach a consensus as each pushes their preferred proposal. Republicans are advocating that the Senate approve a plan that was passed by House Republicans, which would extend current funding through Nov. 21 as the parties negotiate a longer-term solution. Democrats, meanwhile, are pushing for an extension through Oct. 31 that would also include major spending increases for health care, including boosting funding Medicaid and continuing subsidies for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are relying on the public blaming Republicans for a shutdown and noting Republican senators defecting from the current GOP plan. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., meanwhile, has delayed reconvening the House until Oct. 7, leaving the plan approved by the Republican-controlled House as the proposal on the table for senators to pass to avoid a shutdown.

Trump threatens to fire federal workers during shutdown

Trump, whose last-minute intervention could sway negotiations but may exacerbate divisions instead, has a history of involvement in partisan federal funding disputes. The two most recent government shutdowns occurred during the first Trump administration. These include the longest shutdown in United States history, which saw about 800,000 federal employees furloughed and unpaid for weeks beginning just before Christmas 2018. In late 2024, pressure from Trump, then president-elect, and Vice President-Elect JD Vance, as well as their ally at the time, Elon Musk, pushed congressional Republicans to take hardline stances that nearly led to another shutdown. Now, NBC News has reported that Trump is threatening mass firings if a shutdown occurs. Rather than simply furloughing federal employees for the duration of the shutdown, as has occurred in the past, Trump has informed federal agencies to prepare to terminate employees. The message about mass firings, delivered via the Office of Management and Budget, raises the stakes for this week’s negotiations.

Democrats have so far resisted any pressure toward a deal created by Trump’s threat of mass layoffs in the event of a government shutdown. Republicans have been similarly resistant to cutting a deal even as they face blame as the party in power. Meanwhile, the fate of thousands of federal employees could be decided over the next two days as the parties attempt to reach an agreement despite their differences.
The post U.S. Faces Government Shutdown If Democrats And GOP Don’t Reach Deal Before Wednesday appeared first on Blavity.



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