What Has Congress Actually Done During The Shutdown?
The government, which has remained paralyzed for more than a month, has still not prevented the Senate from going about its business.
Congress is poised to break the record Tuesday night for the longest shutdown in U.S. history, after Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan GOP-backed clean spending bill 13 times in a row to reopen the government. During the 34-day standoff, the Senate confirmed a large number of presidential nominees and passed legislation on defense spending and the legality of tariffs.
The House, for its part, has not taken a vote since September 19, the day it adopted the own spending measure.
One week after the start of the shutdown, the October 7 the Senate confirmed 107 executive branch nominees at the same time, following a rule change by the House Republican leadership to allow “en bloc” confirmation in certain cases. Before the shutdown, the Senate calendar was clogged with an unprecedented backlog of nominees awaiting confirmation.
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 29: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (C) holds a press conference with Senator (LR) Chris Murphy (D-CT), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), and Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) on the 29th day of the federal election. government shutdown at the United States Capitol on October 29, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Senate also confirmed Hung Cao as deputy secretary of the Navy and nine judges during the shutdown, according to the Senate filing.
Another action taken by the Senate during the shutdown was the passage of its annual defense policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2026 strengthened readiness in the Indo-Pacific region and proposes sweeping changes to the way the War Department conducts its business, according to to the federal information network. The Senate passed the NDAA, which brought in $32 billion over White House projections, in a 77-20 vote on October 9. (RELATED: Here is the content of the major defense bill that the Senate just passed during the shutdown)
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 21: Signs and a television are on display in the hallway of U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office at the U.S. Capitol on October 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. The government remains paralyzed after Congress failed to reach a funding deal 21 days ago. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
The Senate also looked to President Donald Trump’s national emergency declarations to justify its tariffs. In late October, the Upper House passed bipartisan resolutions ending the emergencies underlying Trump’s reciprocal global tariffs, as well as his tariffs on Canada and Brazil.
The president’s emergency measures had been imposed Rates 10% on a global scale, Rates 25% on Canada, and Rates 40% on Brazil.
Trump declared emergencies over global trade imbalances, drug trafficking in Canada and political censorship in Brazil to justify his tariffs. (RELATED: Four Republicans join forces with Democrats to block Trump’s Canadian tariffs)
A sign indicates that the US Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC is closed on October 21, 2025, during the US government shutdown. The U.S. government shutdown extended into a third week, with Congress locked in a dispute over spending and no solution in sight to a crisis that has already cost thousands of jobs. (Photo by DANIEL HEUER / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL HEUER/AFP via Getty Images)
Three joint resolutions dismantling regulatory restrictions on energy, mining and public land development also passed the Senate in October during the shutdown. The resolutions targeted Bureau of Land Management land use rules in Montana, North Dakota and Alaska.
Several ultimately unsuccessful measures have also passed the Senate over the past month, including a failed resolution aimed at restricting Trump’s strikes against suspected narcotics traffickers in the Caribbean, a spending bill rejected by the War Department and failed legislation aimed at limiting Trump’s National Guard deployments.
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