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The U.S. Senate’s latest vote on Oct. 6 to pass a stopgap funding bill to end the partial federal government shutdown failed as expected. This means the six-day shutdown will continue.
The Senate did not pass dueling bills authored by Republicans and Democrats. The Republican-backed measure, which would restore government funding until Nov. 21, was defeated by a vote of 52-42. It needed 60 votes to pass. The Democrat proposal lost by a vote of 50-45.
In the first four attempts, only 55 senators voted in favor of the bill, mostly along partisan lines with a few important defections. That vote-breaking is unlikely to change; no additional Democrats have said they would support the measure since the last vote, USA TODAY reports.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that threatened layoffs from the shutdown haven’t begun but continue to loom. The Office of Management and Budget is reviewing layoff plans with federal agencies. Asked whether layoffs would follow another failed Senate vote on Oct. 6, Leavitt refused to say when layoffs would begin.
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“We don’t want to see people laid off,” Leavitt said. “Layoffs will be an unfortunate consequence” of the shutdown.
How the Senate voted to extend funding, end shutdown
The shutdown began on Oct. 1, the start of fiscal year 2026, after Senate Republicans failed to win enough Democratic support on a short-term funding measure that would keep federal agencies open through Nov. 21.
Democrats want a permanent extension of enhanced premium tax credits to help Americans purchase private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. They also want written assurances that the White House will not try to unilaterally cancel spending agreed to in any deal.
Republicans want the government funded at current levels and say policy issues, including health care, should be considered separately.
How did your senator vote?
About 750,000 federal employees ranging from workers at national parks to financial regulators could be furloughed under a shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. About $400 million in daily compensation could be withheld, USA TODAY reported.
