USA Gov shutdown

Update.1

In the days leading up to the 2025 government shutdown, Congress held multiple late-night meetings and emergency sessions, but progress stalled. Between September 26 and September 30, there were at least four major rounds of negotiations involving both House and Senate leaders, plus smaller closed-door caucus meetings among Democrats and Republicans. The House passed a “clean” continuing resolution to extend government funding until late November, but the Senate blocked it twice, insisting that health care provisions be added. Senators met in marathon sessions on September 29 and 30 to try to merge the two approaches, but each vote failed, leaving the government on course for a lapse in funding at midnight.

The key issues were centered on health care and spending priorities. Democrats demanded that any stopgap measure include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and the reversal of scheduled Medicaid cuts, arguing that these were urgent protections for millions of Americans. Republicans, however, refused to include policy add-ons in what they viewed as a short-term budget patch, insisting on a clean CR to avoid setting a precedent of attaching major policy demands. This deadlock was further complicated by internal pressures within both parties: progressive Democrats pushed leaders to hold firm on health care, while fiscal conservatives pressed Republican leadership not to concede on spending or policy.

As the deadline drew closer, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulated shutdown contingency plans, directing federal agencies to identify which workers would be furloughed and which functions were “essential.” Agency heads held at least two interagency conference calls with OMB officials during the final week to coordinate responses, while unions warned that nearly a million federal employees could be sent home without pay. Meanwhile, White House officials and congressional leadership held a final series of meetings on September 30, but no compromise emerged before midnight. With negotiations collapsing, the 2025 shutdown officially began in the early hours of October 1, marking another failure to reconcile partisan disputes before the funding deadline.