The Shutdown Begins With No Obvious Way Out: Congress Tracker

The federal government shut down as of 12:01 a.m. For more news on the effects of the shutdown, click here or scroll down.

The Shutdown Begins With No Obvious Way Out

The slow-rolling government shutdown that everyone saw coming is here. What’s harder to foresee is how Republicans and Democrats get out of it quickly.

Parts of the federal government were slated to begin closing down this morning after lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill last night. Unlike in past shutdowns, each side, at least for now, sees advantages in playing this brawl out.

Republicans, after taking the blame for shutdowns in 2013 and 2018, are eager to turn the tables and blame Democrats for undercutting services millions rely on. And they don’t want to give in to policy demands on what has traditionally been a bipartisan process, funding the basics to keep the lights on.

“They have decided to hijack the American people and hold them hostage,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).

The White House is also relishing the power it gains in a shutdown to fire or furlough large swaths of government workers, bolstering President Donald Trump’s push to erase chunks of the federal government. Republicans doubt Democrats — the party that believes in government — have much stomach to leave it closed for long.

“The Democrats are going to be horrified at those layoffs,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who led his own shutdown fight in 2013 only to eventually give in because his party, like Democrats today, had limited power.

The GOP plans to call up repeated votes on the House-passed funding bill, beginning at 11 a.m. today and possibly into the weekend, forcing vulnerable and moderate Democrats to go on record again and again opposing it.

While only three members of the Democratic Caucus supported the funding bill Tuesday night — John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) — a handful of others appeared to waver over entering a shutdown. Eight will be likely be needed to reach the required 60-vote threshold as Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted no.

Against those dynamics, however, comes intense pressure on Democrats, and especially Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), to show that they have the wits and will to fight back against Trump, maximizing what little leverage they have.

After liberals seethed over Schumer capitulating to Trump in a March funding fight, they are looking for real resistance now, not a brief shutdown followed by a soft deal.

A poll released Tuesday showed just how much fury he faces: nearly 60% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters disapprove of their own party’s leaders in Congress, the Pew Research Center found.

And many Democrats see a political advantage in highlighting health-care costs that are set to spike due to expiring subsidies that help millions purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Democrats, demanding an extension, see the ACA and cost-of-living concerns as winning issues that a shutdown brings to the forefront.

Some data points released Tuesday may thicken their resolve.

People who receive ACA subsidies could face a 114% spike in premiums if that aid expires, the nonpartisan health policy organization KFF said in a report. With open enrollment beginning in November, the issue is urgent and tangible, Democrats argue.

“The reason that we are trying to take action now on health care is because people’s premiums are going up. People are going to lose their health care,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said Tuesday.

Meanwhile a new poll from Morning Consult found that 45% of registered voters would blame Republicans in a shutdown, compared to 32% who would blame Democrats. The GOP, Democrats point out, controls every lever of government.

It adds up to two parties playing to their polarized base supporters, with little urgency to compromise.

The long-predicted fight that has slowly arrived could be similarly slow to resolve.

News From the Hill

What Happens Now: Agencies began activating contingency plans that sideline hundreds of thousands of federal workers and halt a wide range of services, as Gregory Korte and Adrienne Tong report. Read More

Other reporters dive in to specific effects of the lapse in appropriations:

• Senate offices’ work, travel, and services could be limited starting today, according to new guidance obtained by Bloomberg Government. The offices will need to determine what staff is needed to support work for legislating and emergencies and who won’t be permitted to work. Many events will be canceled, Lillianna Byington reports. Read More
• Federal dollars to feed low-income young mothers and children will quickly start drying up in the event of a government shutdown, Skye Witley reports. Read More
• The Office of Personnel Management said federal employees who accepted a resignation incentive will be unemployed starting today, even with a government shutdown, Ian Kullgren reports. Read More
• The Transportation Department plans to insulate air traffic control services and training for new employees from a government shutdown, keeping vital aviation functions running amid the broader paralysis, Allyson Versprille reports. Read More
• The Environmental Protection Agency will shrink by some 90%, according to a new agency plan. Staff working on emergency assistance and enforcement are among the few who will stay online, Stephen Lee reports. Read More
• The government’s ability to provide new flood insurance contracts for Americans expired with two months left in the Atlantic hurricane season, Kellie Lunney reports. Read More
• Seniors could lose their telehealth access under Medicare while funding for community health centers also lapsed, Erin Durkin reports. Read More
• US companies no longer have legal protection to share cyber threat information with the federal government after the Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Act of 2015 expired, Ellen M. Gilmer reports. Read More
• A law that allowed the Justice and Homeland Security departments to disable threatening drones in the US also lapsed, Gilmer reports. Read More
• The administration is poised to continue disbursing semiconductor grants, enforcing export controls and other critical technology and telecommunications programs, Oma Seddiq reports. Read More

ICYMI: BGOV journalists held a webinar yesterday with the latest intelligence on the shutdown. Read More

What’s It Going to Cost: How much will it cost to furlough about 750,000 federal workers during a government shutdown? The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will be about $400 million per day. The report highlights the risk of spending millions, if not billions, of dollars on federal employees who are legally not allowed to do their jobs, Jack Fitzpatrick reports. Read More

K Street’s Open: The government may be closed, but K Street is still open for business. Kate Ackley spoke to lobbyists about what work will still be happening in Washington and how they plan to navigate their clients through the shutdown. Read More

Fundraising Targets: House Majority PAC and other Democratic groups targeted Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) for holding a campaign event Tuesday on the eve of a likely government shutdown, Kate Ackley and Greg Giroux report. Read More

The same day, Republican fundraiser Ashlee Reid Morehouse of Republic Strategies sent an email listing more than 50 campaign events over the coming months for a variety of GOP lawmakers. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was scheduled to be the star of one of them next week, but the event was canceled shortly after Kate Ackley reported on it. Read More

Shutdown Explained: House party leaders are taking divergent approaches to the shutdown. Maeve Sheehey breaks those strategies down. Watch Now

Maeve Sheehey

Not Your Nomination: The White House pulled nominations Tuesday for EJ Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics and for Brian Quintenz to serve as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair.

• A White House official said that the administration looked forward to nominating a new candidate to be the BLS head soon, Molly Smith, Josh Wingrove, and Jarrell Dillard report. Read More
• Quintenz, a former CFTC commissioner who was tapped to lead the Wall Street regulator, said he looked forward to returning to his work in the private sector, Nicola M. White and Josh Wingrove report. Read More

No Crops Coming: Republican lawmakers said that China won’t begin purchasing US agricultural products anytime soon after a closed-door briefing from David Perdue, the US ambassador to that country. China has yet to book a single shipment of US soybeans this season due to Trump’s trade war, and it’s fueling anxiety among farmers, Alicia Diaz reports. Read More

Today’s Floor Agenda

The Senate will vote today on whether to reopen the government.

Votes are planned on the House-passed CR through Nov. 21 (H.R. 5371; BGOV Bill Analysis) and the Democratic measure that would run through Oct. 31, permanently extend ACA subsidies and repeal parts of the megabill (S. 2882; BGOV Bill Analysis). The chamber will be voting on whether to limit debate on motions to proceed to the bills.

Hung Cao’s nomination to be undersecretary of the Navy could move forward, with the Senate set to vote on limiting debate on his nomination if the two spending votes are unsuccessful. A confirmation vote would follow later in the day.

Thune’s broader group of 108 nominees could advance, with a motion to invoke cloture on a resolution (S. Res. 412) allowing them to be considered en bloc set for later today. Agency heads, ambassadors, US attorneys and assistant secretaries are among the picks covered, Lillianna Byington reports. Read More

The National Defense Authorization Act (S. 2296; BGOV Bill Analysis) remains the pending business in the chamber. Senators’ struggles to advance their version of the must-pass legislation have prompted lawmakers to consider jumping ahead to negotiations to iron out differences between the Senate’s proposal and the House-passed version (H.R. 3838; BGOV Bill Analysis).

Off-the-Floor Highlights

Senate committee meetings are scheduled but it’s unclear with the shutdown if they will go forward:

• Judicial and US attorney nominees are set for votes in the Judiciary Committee, including Jennifer Lee Mascott for a Delaware seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Delaware senators in July said they were disappointed Trump picked Mascott, a law professor working in the White House and former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas, as she isn’t admitted to practice law in the state. Circuit nominees no longer require support from home-state senators to advance out of the committee.
• Nominees for two of the four vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board and an assistant Labor secretary were scheduled to appear at a hearing at Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
• Taxation of digital assets, with officials from the cryptocurrency industry, will be discussed at Finance. Today’s BGOV Tax previews the hearing and plans by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) to share his vision on the subject as he stakes out a more prominent role. Read More

For more on this week’s events, click here. Follow committee votes on nominees and bills here.