The Senate once again failed to advance the Republican stopgap funding bill on Thursday. The 51 to 45 vote means that it is likely that the shutdown will persist into a third week.

Senate Rejects Bid to Temporarily Fund the Government

Tensions continue to escalate on Capitol Hill after the Senate voted down the GOP-proposed funding bill. The bill would have reopened the government until November 21, giving lawmakers more time to negotiate a permanent spending bill. Democrats are holding out on the stopgap bill, demanding the extension of the enhanced subsidies provided for recipients of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions.

The GOP needs 60 votes to pass the legislation. Despite having a slight majority in the Senate, they will need to win over some Democrats to push through the bill. Three senators in the Democratic caucus voted alongside their GOP colleagues on Thursday. This list included senators Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democratic Party, also voted in favor.

House Speaker Mike Johnson put the blame on the Democrats, saying that he has no idea when or how the shutdown will end.  Meanwhile, leaders of the Democratic Party said today that they want more than just a guaranteed vote on extending the ACA subsidies before voting in favor of opening the government. These ACA subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, putting the health care of millions of Americans in jeopardy.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal fielded questions from reporters on Thursday, saying that he wants to confront the ACA issue now and extend the subsidies for more than one year. Republicans want to reopen the government and then open discussions about the extension of the subsidies.

Thousands of federal workers missed a paycheck this week as the government shutdown drags on. However, the White House was able to move around some funding for some employees to get paid. For example, President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to find the money for active-duty military and reserve members to continue to be paid during the shutdown.

According to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the funding for military paychecks will come from the Pentagon's research and development. In addition, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on Wednesday that the administration will continue to pay FBI agents.

The Trump administration was also able to find the cash flow to continue to fund the national food assistance program known as WIC. This crucial safety net was set to run out of money soon as a result of the shutdown.

Judge Halts Plans to Lay Off Over 4,000 Federal Workers

As the shutdown drags on, more and more Americans are growing fearful of losing their government jobs completely. The Trump administration has been threatening to permanently cut some positions. However, a federal judge based in San Francisco ruled on Wednesday that it is unlawful for the administration to go through with its plans to lay off about 4,100 federal workers during the shutdown.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that she was granting a request by unions representing federal workers to pause the layoff process that started last Friday. Illston said that the temporary restraining order preventing the layoffs is effective immediately. This ruling prohibits the White House from moving ahead with planned layoffs. The order will remain in effect until the legal challenge is over.

The case was brought after a group of unions sued the administration at the end of September, arguing that the government is unlawfully justifying the layoffs under the guise of the lapse in funding.

Senate Democrats are also fighting back by blocking the debate surrounding a defense appropriations bill that was put on the floor Thursday afternoon. The final vote came in at 50 to 44, 10 votes short of the necessary 60 affirmations. Democrats said that they do not trust that the GOP will connect this defense bill to other types of packages that garner Democratic support, including education and health and human services. The move by the Democrats is another sign of the deteriorating trust between the two parties.

The government shutdown negotiations are not the only big headline coming out of Washington, D.C. on Thursday. President Trump also confirmed that he is planning to travel to Budapest, Hungary, for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump made the announcement in a social media post; however, he did not confirm the date or other details of the meeting.

The announcement of an in-person meeting came after Putin and Trump spoke on the phone earlier in the day. 

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