Airports experience flight delays and staff shortages during closure
Major airports are experiencing staffing shortages as TSA and air traffic controllers work without pay during the government shutdown.
WASHINGTON – The federal government shutdown entered its ninth day Thursday, but there is still no end in sight after senators a day earlier rejected Republican and Democratic plans to reopen the government.
The vote marked the sixth time a dueling agreement has been rejected in the Senate. Democrats pushed for health care reform in the package, but if the Republican-backed bill became law, government funding would temporarily continue until Nov. 21.
President Donald Trump has stepped up his threat to block some furloughed federal workers from receiving back pay once the shutdown ends, saying they are “ineligible.” The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday announced furloughs of 34,000 employees, nearly half of its workforce, adding to the roughly 750,000 furloughed employees across the government.
But President Trump insisted military workers don’t have to worry about not getting their next paycheck and signaled support for a standalone bill to ensure they receive their paychecks during the government shutdown.
Bill to pay military personnel during the shutdown collect steam
Rep. Jennifer Quiggans, who proposed a bill to pay military personnel despite the shutdown, urged her fellow House Republican leaders on Oct. 8 to pass the bill quickly, even though the House is in recess while the Senate debates how to reopen the government.
“Service members should never have to worry about never getting paid because Washington is unable to do their job,” Quiggans (R-Va.) said in a statement when introducing the bill on Sept. 16.
She has 148 co-sponsors, mostly Republicans, and became a key ally when Republican Rep. Ken Calvert (Calif.), who oversees military spending on the Appropriations Committee, signed it on Oct. 8. The next payday that 1.3 million military members will miss is Oct. 15.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Congress did not need to vote again because it had already approved extending full government funding through Nov. 21.
President Donald Trump supported paying troops but said the shutdown could be resolved before troops miss a payday.
“You know what a week is to me? It’s an eternity,” President Trump told reporters on Oct. 8. “It’s a long week for me. We’ll deal with it.”
–Bert Jansen
Voters pile blame for government shutdown on all sides in new poll
There is much to blame for the government shutdown.
More than 60% of U.S. adults say Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as well as Trump, all deserve at least a fair amount of responsibility for the government shutdown, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll completed Oct. 8.
The survey found that 67% of adults think Republicans in Congress should be held accountable, while 63% say the same about Trump and Democrats in Congress.
Polls show President Trump’s threat to fire federal workers is popular with Republicans, with 62% supporting it. However, Republican support for mass layoffs has fallen 14 points since the last Reuters/Ipsos poll in April. Only 8% of Democrats support removal.
-Zack Anderson
Senate to vote again to end endless shutdown
The Senate is scheduled to vote again on Oct. 9 on competing proposals to reopen the government, but there is no indication the outcome will be different from the previous six failed attempts.
Voting is scheduled to begin around 11:30 a.m. and includes Democratic proposals to restore Medicaid cuts and extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The House Republican majority is proposing extending previously approved spending through Nov. 21 and deferring health care negotiations to a later date, subject to approval by House Republicans.
“We need to fund the government, we need federal employees to get back to work, and federal agencies and departments need to be open to providing the services that the American people expect,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the Senate floor on Oct. 8. “It’s that simple.”
Most Democrats continue to advocate improving health care while reopening the government. Three Senate Democrats join Republicans in voting in favor of reopening the government, but Republicans need five more to move the bill forward.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor on October 8, “We can both rebuild health care and restart the government. It’s not an either/or.”
President Trump is scheduled to hold a Cabinet meeting on Thursday as the government shutdown continues.
This will be the ninth Cabinet meeting in President Trump’s second term.
President Trump’s meetings with his Cabinet members are typically long, with each administration official praising the president and touting his progress on his policy agenda.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is scheduled to appear on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” the longtime political show where Americans ask questions, at 8:30 a.m. ET.
– Joey Garrison
President Trump on Wednesday did not promise to support extending subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that expire at the end of this year.
Asked if he would like to extend the subsidies, Trump said: “What I want to do is very simple. I want to open up the country. And we’re going to talk about it.”
Earlier this week, he expressed openness to reaching an agreement with Democrats to extend the subsidies.
Democrats in Congress are pushing for an extension of health care subsidies to be included in the government’s reopening funding bill. Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly said they will not negotiate on health care policy until the government is reopened.
According to research organization KFF, premiums are expected to double if Affordable Care Act subsidies are not renewed.
President Trump argued Wednesday that most furloughed federal workers will receive back pay once the government reopens, but some are “not eligible.”
The president made the remarks a day after he threatened to withhold unpaid wages from furloughed federal workers once the shutdown ends.
“Most of them will get their pay back, and we’re going to work to make that happen,” Trump said. “But some of them are so hurt by the Democratic Party that they don’t qualify.”
President Trump did not say why certain federal employees are not eligible to receive back pay.
Withholding payments to furloughed workers when they return would be a big departure from previous government shutdowns, including the last one in 2019 under President Trump.
The Public Employees Fair Treatment Act of 2019, passed during the last government shutdown and signed by President Trump, states that federal employees who are furloughed while government funding lapses “will be paid their salary for the period of lapse.” The law states that it applies to the expiration of government funds after December 22, 2018.
But the White House argues in a new legal memo that the law does not automatically cover all furloughed workers because of an amendment approved nine days after it was first passed in January 2019. The amendment specifies that furloughed workers would receive back pay “subject to enactment of appropriations legislation ending the lapse.”
President Trump said U.S. military personnel should not have to worry about not getting their next paycheck amid the government shutdown and signaled support for Congress to pass legislation to ensure they receive their paychecks.
Asked by reporters on Wednesday whether he would support Congress passing a standalone military pay bill, President Trump said, “Yeah, probably.” “Don’t worry yet. It will take a long time.”
The 1.3 active duty military personnel in the country last received a paycheck on October 1st, but if the government shutdown continues, they will not receive their next paycheck until October 15th.
The House will be in recess until October 10, meaning any action will have to wait until Friday at the earliest.
“You know what a week is to me? It’s an eternity,” Trump said. “It’s a long week for me. We’ll deal with it.”
– Joey Garrison
X Contact Joey Garrison at @joeygarrison.
