10/16/2025

The Federal Government Shutdown Drags into its Third Week

The Senate failed today to advance a "clean" CR for the tenth time

It is now Day 16 of the federal government shutdown, and there’s little progress to report as both parties remain entrenched.

The Senate on Thursday failed for the tenth time to advance a Republican "clean" continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. With the stalemate showing no signs of breaking, the shutdown is now expected to stretch into at least three full weeks when the Senate reconvenes early next week.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has indicated he's been working to find a path forward, reportedly planning a vote later today on a full-year funding bill for the Department of Defense (DoD).

Thune said on MSNBC that he offered to guarantee Democrats a future vote on Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies as part of a broader deal to reopen the government. However, his reported offer appears to have done little to move negotiations.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told POLITICO that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had rejected the proposal, and Johnson himself stopped short of endorsing it.

"If they will reopen the government, we’ll look at that," Johnson said.

"It's a question of whether or not they [Democrats] are willing to take yes for an answer," Thune said, while acknowledging he could not guarantee the outcome of such a vote.

Schumer, meanwhile, said no such offer had been made.

"Leader Thune has not come to me with any proposal," he told reporters.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of Associations and Inroads.