When will the Senate vote on a government shutdown?

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WASHINGTON – The federal government was set to partially shut down, but senators were scheduled to vote again on dueling funding measures to keep the government running. Neither measure is expected to succeed, though there could be some defections from moderate Democrats and budget-hawk Republicans.

Both Senate bills previously failed on September 19, largely along party lines. Since then, congressional leaders have dug in their heels. Democrats are demanding changes to healthcare in exchange for their votes to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold and keep the government open into the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.

Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing to pass a bill that would maintain current funding levels until November 21. Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, originally voted for that measure, while Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, opposed it.

Ahead of the votes, President Donald Trump seemed to support the prospect of a shutdown, saying “a lot of good can come from shutdowns.” The White House has threatened furloughs and mass layoffs across the federal workforce in the event of a shutdown.

In a unique start to his ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration on September 30, U.S. District Court Judge William Young included a scanned handwritten note sent to his office. The note read: “Trump has pardons and tanks – what do you have?” At the top of Young’s opinion in AAUP v. Rubio, which ruled that Trump’s effort to deport foreign-born student protesters was unconstitutional.

October 8, 2025

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who leads Democrats in the upper chamber, sided with Republicans in March to keep the government open due to fears of further cuts to the civil service by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. This time around, however, Schumer says he is less concerned about the White House’s warnings of widespread firings.

“The bottom line is he’s doing it anyway,” Schumer said. “They’ve already cut 300,000 people.”

Zachary Schermele is a congressional reporter for USA TODAY.