US government shuts down as midnight deadline passes
The US government has officially shut down for the first time in nearly seven years, after congressional Democrats refused to support a Republican funding package unless they won a series of concessions centered on healthcare.
It marks the first time the US government has shuttered since a 35-day shutdown that lasted from late 2018 into early 2019 during Donald Trump’s first presidency.
Here’s my colleague Chris Stein with the full story:
Key events
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US government shuts down as midnight deadline passes
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Senate adjourns
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OMB sends letter to federal agencies as midnight shutdown set to take effect
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Senate fails to pass a stopgap funding bill, as government careens towards a midnight shutdown
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Senate rejects Democratic resolution to keep government funded
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Bondi to appear before Senate judiciary committee next week
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‘We have no choice’: Trump says layoffs are inevitable if the government shuts down
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Trump signs executive order to use AI in pediatric cancer research
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Qatar, Egypt and Turkey urge Hamas to accept Trump’s Gaza proposal – report
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Federal judge says that Trump administration’s targeting of pro-Palestinian activists violates the First Amendment
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‘We’ll probably have a shutdown,’ Trump says in Oval Office press conference
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Democrats call out Republicans for postponing votes on Capitol Hill
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Trump announces agreement with Pfizer to lower medication prices
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What was in Trump and Hegseth’s astonishing speeches to US top military brass?
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Major reforms to military acquisitions and sales are coming, Trump says
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Trump suggets ‘dangerous cities’ should be used ‘as training grounds’ for the military and national guard
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Trump says ‘straightening out’ US cities will be ‘a major part for some of the people in this room’
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Trump tells military generals ‘we’re under invasion from within’
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Trump says he wants to get Putin and Zelenskyy together
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Trump says Hamas ‘has to agree’ to US proposal for Gaza, adding ‘if they don’t it’s going to be very tough on them’
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Trump says he’s never seen ‘a room so silent before’ as he address top military brass
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Hegseth tells generals if they do not agree with him, ‘do the honorable thing and resign’
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Hegseth says that if new military standards prevent women from serving in combat, ‘it is what it is’
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Pentagon will review its definitions of ‘toxic leadership’, ‘bullying’ and ‘hazing’, says Hegseth
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‘No more beardos,’ Hegseth tells military leaders they must look professional
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‘Fat troops are tiring to look at’: Hegseth orders top officers to focus on fitness
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Combat troops will have to meet ‘highest male standard’, Hegseth says
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‘We are done with that shit’: Hegseth says military is done with diversity efforts in extraordinary speech to generals
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‘You might say, we’re ending the war on warriors,’ says Pete Hegseth in speech to military leaders
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Trump and Hegseth to address unprecedented gathering of military leaders
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Trump gutting protected status for immigrants will strain US healthcare, Democrats warn
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Donald Trump to preside over gathering of US military’s top commanders in Quantico, Virginia
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US justice department sues Minnesota over sanctuary city policies
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Pentagon review reportedly confirms Aukus submarines pact is safe
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US deports planeload of Iranians after deal with Tehran, New York Times says
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US government to shut down within hours if no funding deal agreed
About an hour before the US government was scheduled to shut down this evening, Donald Trump posted on social media that he was watching golf.
At 11:01pm ET, Trump responded to a video of the European Ryder Cup team, which won the 2025 Ryder Cup tournament held last weekend. In the video, members of the team ask “Are you watching, Donald Trump?” while holding aloft their trophy. In his post, Trump wrote: “Yes, I’m watching. Congratulations!”
With about 30 minutes to go until the US government shuts down at midnight, here’s a look back at our coverage of the last shutdown, which stretched for 35 days, cost about $11bn and left 800,000 federal workers without paychecks.
Two labor unions have sued the Trump administration for threatening mass layoffs of federal workers during the impending government shutdown.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed suit against both the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management in a northern California US District Court. The unions argue that the layoffs violate the Antideficiency Act, a law which prohibits the federal government from spending beyond its budget, by ordering OMB and OPM staff to conduct firings.
“These actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, and the cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in Congressional deliberations should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this Court,” the lawsuit reads.
Donald Trump posted another deepfake video on social media mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, just hours after he posted a similar video Democrats have denounced as “racist” and “bigoted”.
Yesterday, Trump posted an AI-generated video of Jeffries speaking outside the White House with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Trump had edited the video to show Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache while mariachi music played in the background.
This evening, about an hour after the Senate adjourned for the evening, signaling an impending government shutdown, Trump posted a second video. The second video showed Jeffries denouncing the first video in an interview on MSNBC. Trump had edited that footage to again show Jeffries wearing a sombrero and mustache while four images of Trump playing mariachi music appeared in the background.
Jeffries addressed the videos in an MSNBC interview, saying: “We need from the president of the United States an individual who actually is focused on doing his job, as opposed to engaging in racist or bigoted stereotypes designed to try to distract or throw us off as Democrats from what we need to do on behalf of the American people.”
Speaking on CNN this evening, Bernie Sanders said he would vote against any government funding measure that doesn’t address expiring expanded premium tax credits.
Asked “So are you telling me you’re willing to vote no every time?” Sanders responded, “Damn right.”
“I will not let tens of thousands of fellow Americans die because they’re thrown off of healthcare,” he added. “In my state, people cannot afford a doubling in their healthcare premiums.”
Donald Trump has withdrawn his pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a conservative economist from the Heritage Foundation who worked on Project 2025.
In August, Trump fired the former head of the bureau, Erika McEntarfer, after claiming that the agency’s jobs data was “rigged” against him. The president nominated EJ Antoni to take her place, despite concerns that Antoni had a history of misrepresenting and exaggerating results which could politicize jobs data.
Here’s more coverage from my colleagues on Antoni’s earlier nomination:
Federal immigration agents shoved three journalists working in a New York City immigration court, sending one to the hospital, just days after a bystander captured footage of an immigration agent forcing an Ecuadorian woman to the floor in the same courthouse.
Dean Moses, who is the police bureau chief at amNewYork, said immigration agents pushed him off an elevator when he attempted to photograph them arresting a woman who had just exited a court room. In the fray, another immigration agent pushed Olga Fedorova, a freelance photographer. Neither Moses nor Fedorova were seriously injured, but a third journalist – L Vural Elibol, who works for the Turkish outlet Anadolu, hit his head on the ground.
“Officers repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator,” Tricia McLaughlin, the homeland security assistant secretary, said in a statement. “Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm’s way.”
On social media, Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, a Democrat, denounced the agents’ actions: “This abuse of law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories must end,” she said.
Donald Trump has posted a series of photos to his Truth Social account from his meeting with top congressional leaders yesterday which prominently feature red “Trump 2028” hats sitting atop his desk.
Two people with knowledge of the meeting confirmed to the Associated Press that those hats were in fact on the president’s desk during his meeting with Mike Johnson, John Thune, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries yesterday.
The president has been selling the hats through his online store since at least April and showed them to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French president Emmanuel Macron during their visit to the United States in August.
Although Trump is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third term, he has suggested he might still want to, as my colleagues report below:
A federal appeals court will reconsider a ruling made by a three-judge panel that had found the Trump administration could not use the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants who allegedly belong to a Venezuelan gang.
The conservative fifth circuit vacated the earlier ruling of three of its members, agreeing that all 17 of its judges would hear the case.
The Alien Enemies Act, which was passed in 1798, gives the government expansive powers to detain and deport citizens of hostile foreign nations, but only in times of war or during an “invasion or predatory incursion”.
Here’s my colleague David Smith with more on the history of the case and the earlier three-judge ruling:
With the Senate adjourned until 10am tomorrow and the House until 7 October, a government shutdown at midnight is nearly certain.
As we wait for that midnight deadline to arrive, we’ll bring you other national headlines.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, also held a press conference after the Senate failed to pass a funding bill to keep the government open. He blamed Republicans for failing to negotiate on rising healthcare costs.
“We see now Republicans are plunging Americans into a shutdown, rejecting bipartisan talks, pushing a partisan bill and risking Americans’ healthcare worst of all,” he said. He cited data that shows Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollees would see their out-of-pocket premium payments more than double next year.
Later, Schumer said that in private conversations Republicans have raised concerns about rising healthcare costs as well, giving him hope they may be open to negotiations.
