Each party appears to believe public opinion favors its side, as the federal shutdown enters its ninth day.
‘Modern Politigencia’
The Senate on Oct. 9 defeated for a seventh time two continuing resolutions to temporarily extend federal funding, as Republicans and Democrats present differing versions of the cause of the federal government shutdown.
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after spending authority for the federal government expired, causing the suspension of all but essential services.
Republicans presented a continuing resolution that would extend current funding through Nov. 21. That resolution passed the House on Sept. 19.
Democrats have offered a competing resolution that would add about $1.5 trillion in additional spending, mostly involving health care.
Both resolutions failed votes to end debate and bring the proposals to an up or down vote. That process, called invoking cloture, requires a 60-vote majority under Senate rules.
The Democratic resolution failed 47–50, and the GOP version failed 54–45.
Both parties have increasingly tried to gain public support, blaming each other for the shutdown and the harm it is inflicting on some Americans.
“Right now, service members, military personnel at home and abroad, as well as Border Patrol agents, TSA, air traffic controllers – they’re all working without pay,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Oct. 9. “Democrats [are] playing games with the lives and livelihoods of the people who [they] represent.”
Democrats are using the shutdown to force Republicans to strengthen Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA Marketplace, which are broadly popular. Democratic Party leaders have said they do not trust Republicans to negotiate in good faith and have refused to approve any funding until their demands are met.
Those demands include a permanent extension of the COVID-19 era subsidies that temporarily expanded access to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace and a repeal of all health-care-related provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Democrats have been consistent. Our position remains the same; we’ve been saying it for months,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in the Senate on Oct. 8. “Republicans are shutting down the government because they refuse to address the crisis in American health care.”
Republicans say they are operating in good faith by extending funding levels that the Democrats set when they were in power, allowing time for bipartisan negotiations.
There are some signs of movement on both sides.
Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and Angus King (I-Maine), who caucuses with Democrats, have voted in favor of the Republican-backed continuing resolution.
Some Republicans in both chambers favor a one-year extension of the ACA subsidies, which could provide an opening for compromise.
Currently, half of the government’s civilian employees are on furlough, according to Johnson. The Trump administration has said that layoffs may be required if the shutdown continues.
“It’s costing our economy about $15 billion a week to continue to have the government shut down,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on Oct. 7. “This week, paychecks start being affected for federal workers, and that is going to have real consequences for them and their families.”
A White House official told The Epoch Times on Oct. 7 that when funding is eventually restored, the government may not give federal workers back pay for time spent working during the shutdown. The idea has generated alarm from Democrats and workers unions, who cite a 2019 law that ostensibly requires back pay.
Johnson said on Oct. 8 that furloughed workers should be paid back pay when the shutdown ends.
“I think it is statutory law that federal workers be paid,” he said at the Capitol.
Written by Lawrence Wilson and Arjun Singh for The Epoch Times ~ October 9, 2025