Senate plans 8th vote to reopen government as shutdown drags on

The House hasn’t been in session since Sept. 19, after passing a measure to fund the government until Nov. 21. And the House is still on recess this week after GOP leadership canceled votes. Republicans say the lower chamber has already done its job and is continuing to pressure the Senate to pass the bill.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called House Democrats back to Washington this week, writing in a letter to colleagues Saturday that they would return to Washington and meet Tuesday evening to “discuss the path forward.”

Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both New York Democrats, say the way to resolve the shutdown is through negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House. Republicans contend there’s nothing to negotiate, since the House has already passed a measure to keep the government funded.

Jeffries reiterated his position on MSNBC Monday, saying Republican leaders “need to sit down and negotiate” to reopen the government, saying they have “basically gone radio silent” since the White House meeting ahead of the shutdown.

“Republicans are nowhere to be found,” Jeffries said. “They literally are not in Washington and have not been in Washington for the last several weeks and have no intention of being there this week.”

The Senate is returning to Washington Tuesday afternoon and is expected to hold a procedural vote in the evening on a House-passed measure to fund the government, trying again to end the impasse after the bill repeatedly fell short of the 60 votes needed last week.

Republicans have attempted to peel off enough Democrats to push through a House-passed measure to keep the government funded until Nov. 21. But they’ve been unable to pick up any new support from Democrats since just before the shutdown began. In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to advance most measures, and with only 53 Republicans in the Senate, support from Democrats is essential.

Just one Democrat initially crossed the aisle to support the bill in a vote last month. But on the next vote on Sept. 30, two more joined Republicans. One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has consistently voted against the measure to fund the government. Five more Democrats are needed to advance the measure.

But Tuesday’s vote marks a change in approach: it’s the first time the chamber will take a vote on the legislation that passed the House without also voting on a competing measure from Democrats. The Democrats’ bill would fund the government until Oct. 31 and includes an extension of the expiring health insurance tax credits. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Coast Guard personnel will receive paychecks this week from funds in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that passed earlier this year.

Over the weekend, President Trump directed the Pentagon to pay military personnel despite the government shutdown, but the Coast Guard falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security.

“President Trump did not want any of our military to go without pay as a result of Democrats’ political theater, and we at DHS worked out an innovative solution to make sure that didn’t happen,” Noem wrote Monday on X. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the One Big Beautiful Bill, the brave men and women of the US Coast Guard will not miss a paycheck this week as they continue to carry out their critical homeland security and military missions.”

Noem did not disclose the source of the funding for the paychecks.