Government shutdown live updates as Senate plans 8th vote to reopen government

The House has not been in session since September 19, after passing a measure to fund the government until November 21. And the House is still in recess this week after GOP leaders canceled votes. Republicans say the Lower House has already done its job and continues to pressure the Senate to pass the bill.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called House Democrats back to Washington this week, writing in a letter to his colleagues Saturday that they would return to Washington and meet Tuesday evening to “discuss the path forward.”

Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats from New York, say the solution to the shutdown comes through negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House. Republicans claim there is nothing to negotiate, since the House has already passed a measure to keep the government funded.

Jeffries reiterated his position on MSNBC Monday, saying Republican leaders “need to sit down and negotiate” to reopen the government, saying they have been “basically silent on the radio” since the White House meeting before the shutdown.

“The Republicans are nowhere to be found,” Jeffries said. “They literally are not in Washington and haven’t been in Washington for several weeks and have no plans to be there this week.”

The Senate returns to Washington on Tuesday afternoon and is expected to hold a procedural vote in the evening on a House-passed measure to fund the government, once again attempting to break the deadlock after the bill repeatedly failed to secure the necessary 60 votes last week.

Republicans tried to get rid of enough Democrats to pass a House-passed measure to keep the government funded until November 21. But they were unable to gain new support from Democrats just before the shutdown began. In the Senate, 60 votes are needed to advance most measures, and with only 53 Republicans in the Senate, Democratic support is essential.

Only one Democrat initially crossed the aisle to support the bill in a vote last month. But in the next vote, on September 30, two others joined the Republicans. One Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has consistently voted against the measure to fund the government. Five more Democrats are needed to advance the measure.

But Tuesday’s vote marks a change in approach: It’s the first time the House will vote on House-passed legislation without also voting on a competing Democratic measure. The Democrats’ bill would fund the government through Oct. 31 and include an extension of expired health insurance tax credits.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Coast Guard personnel will receive paychecks this week from funds from the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed earlier this year.

Over the weekend, President Trump ordered the Pentagon to pay military personnel despite the government shutdown, but the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security.

“President Trump did not want any of our service members to go without pay because of Democratic political theater, and we at DHS have developed an innovative solution to ensure that does not happen,” Noem wrote Monday on that they continue to carry out their crucial military and internal security missions.”

Noem did not disclose the source of funding for the paychecks.