The US federal Government shut down at 5.01pm NZT on Wednesday after Congress was deadlocked over how to extend spending. Photo / Salwan Georges, The Washington Post
The Trump Administration has begun to exert its power over the United States Government shutdown, blaming Democrats for imminent layoffs of federal workers, tying up infrastructure projects in blue states, and posting partisan messages on government websites that deflected blame for the stoppage in crucial federal services.
Most federal government functions were halted after funding ran out with Congress deadlocked over how to extend spending laws.
Vice-President JD Vance said that officials were “going to have to lay some people off” during a prolonged shutdown to prioritise funding for essential services, though the size of the federal workforce is unrelated to the country’s financial health during a lapse in funding.
Senate Democrats yesterday blocked a Republican Bill that would have extended federal resources for seven weeks.
Republicans in the chamber blocked a Democratic bill that would have done the same while also extending subsidies for health insurance coverage.
The GOP Bill failed again in a vote today. Congress will be off tomorrow NZT for Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.
The two sides, and the White House, have dug in.
“Donald Trump and Republicans have barrelled us into a shutdown because they refuse to protect Americans’ healthcare,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (Democrat-New York) said on the floor of the chamber.
Vance, speaking from the White House press briefing room, shot back that Democrats were holding government services “hostage” to achieve unrelated policy goals, which he falsely said mostly centred on providing healthcare to undocumented immigrants, who are ineligible for federal benefits.
Vance and GOP lawmakers did indicate that they’d be willing to talk about extending Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at year’s end - if the Government was funded.
“Let’s fix America’s problems. Let’s work together to solve them. But let’s reopen the Government before we have our negotiation about healthcare policy,” Vance said today.
The lapse in finances means that everything from small-business loan services to job training for veterans will stop until lawmakers approve more money.
Federal work vital to national security will continue, though employees, including many service members and law enforcement officers, will go unpaid.
Vance said the Trump Administration will fire federal workers to “do a little triage to make sure the most critical and most essential services are provided”.
In actuality, in a shutdown, the president and White House budget office determine which federal activities continue based on national security and if parts of the Government have money left over from other funding sources.
In a call with House Republicans, White House budget director Russell Vought said that new federal layoffs will begin within a “few days”, according to three people on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Vought also cautioned lawmakers that the anti-hunger programme for women, infants, and children, known as WIC, will run out of money next week.
Trump had indicated yesterday that he would leverage the shutdown to inflict pain on programmes and workers that Democrats prioritise.
Today, Vought said the Administration will use the shutdown to block funding from infrastructure projects in states run by Democrats.
The Administration announced it would withhold roughly US$18b in federal funds from two major New York transportation projects, the Second Avenue subway and the Hudson Tunnel to New Jersey, until they could be further reviewed for alleged discriminatory practices.
The move appeared designed to pressure Schumer; the Transportation Department said the pause came because the staff reviewing the projects had been furloughed.
Vought also later announced the cancellation of US$8b in green energy projects in states with Democratic senators.
Democrats sharply criticised those moves.
“Cruelty is the point when it comes to the Republican Party,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) told reporters.
There were some signs, however faint, that lawmakers were trying to break the deadlock.
A group of nearly 20 senators from both parties discussed possible options to end the shutdown in an informal meeting on the Senate floor. Those senators “are trying to find a good faith way to move forward, to get the ACA tax credits that we want and also some of the appropriations that they’re asking for,” said Senator Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), who was part of the conversation. “But we have a trust issue, obviously, with the House and what they’re going to do.”
The shutdown is the first since January 2019, and the fourth of President Donald Trump’s two terms.
White House officials this time, though, have signalled plans to use the agency closings as a way to vastly reshape the federal Government and consolidate power under the presidency.
Federal workers began trickling into their offices today, many awaiting instructions as to what they were supposed to be doing.
Some had been deemed excepted and told to keep working, some were only showing up to collect their things before going on furlough, and some weren’t clear on their status, according to interviews with more than three dozen employees dotted throughout the Government.
At the State Department, some former employees who lost their jobs in July layoffs were mistakenly sent shutdown messages - delivered to their personal email accounts - telling them that they were furloughed or that they were required to report to the office as an essential worker.
“You must report to work on your next regularly scheduled workday,” read one such message sent to a former staffer and obtained by the Washington Post. “We appreciate your understanding in this matter.”
There was some confusion among workers as they showed up at offices and prepared to stay away - or work unpaid - until the standoff is resolved.
One Federal Aviation Administration staffer, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, said he was told only that his agency remained funded to Saturday to facilitate an “orderly shutdown”.
He said he had no idea what might happen after that. He arrived in the office to close out everything he was working on, he said, while conferring with bewildered colleagues.
“I was just in the cafeteria to get coffee and it’s equal parts ‘What are we doing here?’ and ‘When do we find out if we’re being furloughed, fired or laid off?’” the FAA employee said.
He added that everyone is expecting to get laid off in line with warnings from the Administration. “We’re all just waiting … we’re all so demoralised.”
Some agencies pushed partisan messaging about the shutdown, as they had as the deadline neared.
Ethics experts warned that such moves might violate the Hatch Act, which bars most civil service employees in the executive branch from engaging in political advocacy or activity.
The Justice Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development updated their websites to say that Democrats had forced the closure, as did the US Forest Service.
“The Radical Left Democrats shutdown the government,” the Forest Service site announced.
“This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”
In the District, officials were worried that the city’s already battered economy is poised to take another hit.
The tourism marketing organisation has relaunched its “DC is Open” campaign - trying to amplify the message that despite the shutdown, the nation’s capital remains open to visitors.
Destination DC - which debuted the campaign during an October 2013 shutdown - has compiled an online list of open museums, music venues and other attractions, plus an FAQ.
All free Smithsonian museums, including the National Zoo, remain open until at least October 6 because of leftover funding from previous years.
The shutdown was the culmination of a struggle between the White House and Congress that has built all year.
Trump has claimed sweeping power over government spending, disrupting congressional negotiations over funding for the new financial year.
Trump has tried to block spending already written into law, angering Democrats and some Republicans, who say he’s usurping authority that the legislative branch has under the Constitution.
The Government Accountability Office, an independent arm of Congress, has ruled several times this year that Trump is illegally holding back funds, a manoeuvre known as impoundment.
The tension dates to Trump’s first term, when his refusal to release congressionally approved security assistance funding for Ukraine helped spark a House impeachment, though he was acquitted in the Senate.
Trump and Vought, a leading booster of the executive’s impoundment power, have been bolder in Trump’s second term, challenging Congress with what are known as “pocket rescissions”, which block agencies from spending money at the end of the financial year, even if lawmakers reauthorise the funds. Some of those moves have been subject to litigation.
When issuing instructions for how to prepare for and emerge from the shutdown, OMB has told agencies to rely on Trump’s Budget, an aspirational document that does not carry the force of law, rather than funding laws already in force.
In a shutdown, the White House has broad latitude to determine which federal offices remain open and which are sidelined.
The IRS, for example, is generally considered nonessential during shutdowns; the Trump Administration opted to keep it open, running on funds from President Joe Biden and Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included tens of billions of dollars to revamp IRS technology and taxpayer services - spending that Republicans had sought to cancel.
Trump’s military deployments to major American cities are expected to continue, as will his immigration crackdown and deportations.
The military and law enforcement are generally considered essential, but besides that, both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security received additional money in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which could provide even more flexibility.
Most big social benefit programmes, which drive the vast majority of federal spending, will remain open during a shutdown.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are funded through separate tax receipts, rather than annual appropriations.
Mail delivery will also continue; the US Postal Service is generally funded through the sale of postage.
But broad swathes of the federal government will close. Most of the Labour Department, including the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service and Bureau of Labour Statistics, which collects and publishes data about the US economy, will close.
National parks with accessible areas - including roads, trails and open-air memorials - will generally remain open, while anything with a door or a gate that can be secured will close, including buildings and parking lots, according to an internal National Park Service message to staff reviewed by the Post.
That means places such as the interior of the Washington Monument or museums at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia will probably close, while major parks such as Yellowstone in Wyoming or Zion in Utah will still largely be accessible.
Parks can use income from fees collected from visitors to maintain minimum services such as rubbish collection, campground operations and restroom clean-up at sites that remain open, according to the message sent to staff from National Park Service acting director Jessica Bowron. Interior Department and National Park Service officials did not return a request for comment.
Practically all federal research activities will stop, along with certain public health work at the National Institutes of Health and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most activities at the Environmental Protection Agency, including environmental inspections, will cease. National parks and monuments will be closed.
So will the National Zoo in Washington, when its existing funding runs out. Employees will continue to care for the animals housed there.
- Lori Aratani, Marianna Sotomayor, Theodoric Meyer, Paul Kane, Kadia Goba, Liz Goodwin, Rachel Siegel and Jake Spring contributed to this report.
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