Federal government shutdown: What to know

Senate adjourns with no resolution on how to reopen the government

Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown. A vote to end the government shutdown failed earlier Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to extend.

Read more here.

Health care is key in the shutdown fight. Here's what to know.

Democrats had said they could not support a GOP-led funding extension until Republicans agreed to certain concessions on health care policy, primarily the continuation of pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies that were set to expire by the end of the year.

Republicans countered those demands by falsely claiming that Democrats were trying to force the government to provide full health care benefits to undocumented immigrants.

Read more here.

President Donald Trump in low-profile mode on Day One of government shutdown

President Donald Trump, on Day One of the first government shutdown of his second term, remained out-of-sight, holding no public events Wednesday.

Trump, who presided over three partial government shutdowns during his first term, instead opted to weigh-in on his Truth Social platform, accusing Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, of supporting "Healthcare for Illegal Aliens."

He appeared to be referencing an exchange between Waters and a reporter for the pro-Trump outlet LindellTV, who asked Waters on the steps of the U.S. Capitol this morning is Democrats were "demanding healthcare for illegal aliens?" according to a Yahoo News report on the exchange.

Waters chided the reporter, telling her: "You’re trying to make me say that somehow we are going to put non-citizens over Americans. Quit it! Stop it."

"We want to save healthcare for all people," Waters said.

Congressional Democrats are seeking concessions for their support of a short-term spending bill, demanding congressional Republicans extend a soon-to-expire expansion of the Affordable Care Act that lowered health care premiums for millions of Americans.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal healthcare programs like Medicaid and Medicare, but congressional Republicans have attacked Democrats for proposing the restoration of eligibility for those with temporary legal status including refugees and asylees.

LIers are hoping politicians can work together, come up with a plan

Some Long Islanders are watching and waiting in the hopes that a deal can be reached.

Fire Island Lighthouse opened, but 'a lot of unknowns' persist

Dozens of people from international visitors to local school groups visited the Fire Island Lighthouse on Wednesday, which remained open despite the government shutdown.

The lighthouse is owned by the National Parks Service yet operated by nonprofit The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society.

It is unclear if the lighthouse is to remain open as the shutdown continues, and the society and volunteers are taking things day by day.

"Right now we have no concrete guidance on how our nonprofit can operate going forward," society executive director Jonathan Gaare said. "So a lot of unknowns right now. We’re hoping to remain open for the public and the visitors and the school groups that have been all excited all summer to come."

Unlike the grounds of William Floyd Estate, it is located on open parkland and more difficult to keep visitors out.

Volunteers and staff were unsure Tuesday night if the lighthouse would open the following day.

Gaare said he did not know of the service’s decision until a meeting Wednesday morning. The society has paid staff but heavily relies on about 100 federal volunteers who dedicate their time to guests each day.

Staff would not be affected by furloughs, but federal volunteers would, Gaare said.

The lighthouse last shut its doors during the 2018 entire government shutdown for 35 days. Each year, lighthouse staff hold their breath at the threat of a shutdown.

The lighthouse receives about 500 visitors per weekday and 1,000 on weekend days, Gaare said.

On Wednesday afternoon, staff discussed how to organize two upcoming fundraisers if the lighthouse is forced to close.

The events include a walking lantern tour on Friday and one of the lighthouse’s biggest fundraisers, Light-Haus Keeper's Craft Tasting on Oct. 11, which sold out in six minutes after tickets went available, Gaare said.

The nonprofit relies on donations to operate the lighthouse and hopes the shutdown will not affect fundraising.

"We’ll get through this shutdown," Gaare said .”We hope to keep going strong after that, and we need all of the support we can get."

Janeen Mitchell, of Warwick, 61, had taken a walk with a friend to the lighthouse from their vacation house in Saltaire on Wednesday.

They were unsure if it was open for the season but happy to learn it was open year-round and despite the government shutdown.

“I’m glad that the Democrats are sticking together and not giving in,” Mitchell said. “The threat to health care and the increase in premiums for people because of funding the government is too much to accept."

The recently retired 5th grade teacher said at the same time she feels bad for federal workers and hopes a compromise comes sooner rather than later.

“I love nature, and I've been to many national parks, and already what's happening to the National Park Service. All the defunding of the National Park Service is criminal,” Mitchell said. “I’m just really disgusted by what’s going on in the country right now.”

Layoffs 'likely' and 'imminent,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says

Vice President JD Vance joined White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at Wednesday’s White House press briefing where both placed the blame on the partial government shutdown squarely on congressional Democrats.

Vance and Leavitt continued to relay misleading claims that congressional Democrats were withholding their support for a temporary funding bill in a push to provide free healthcare to undocumented immigrants. Democrats are seeking an extension of enhanced health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year that if not renewed will increase costs for Affordable Care Act coverage.

“It's one thing to say that we can solve the health care crisis for Americans, it's another thing to say that we're going to shut down the government unless we give the Democrats every single thing,” Vance said.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal healthcare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, but prior to the passage of the Trump backed tax and spend bill this summer, certain groups of immigrants with temporary legal status such as refugees and asylees were eligible for some programs. The Democratic plan would restore the eligibility for such “authorized” immigrants that was stripped in the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” signed into law by Trump in July.

Leavitt noted that “unfortunately, layoffs are very likely” and “imminent” to result from the shutdown. Typically federal employees are furloughed until a spending bill is passed, but President Trump and his top budget aide Russell Vought have long signaled that they would likely use a shutdown to determine which government agencies and jobs are essential and which could be further downsized.

“If this thing drags on for another few days, or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance said. “We're going to have to save money in some places so that essential services don't get turned off in other places,” Vance said.

Melville food bank: USDA's supplemental food program will stretch thin if shutdown lasts for weeks

Nearly 6,000 low-income Long Island seniors would lose their access to home-delivered food items if the federal government shutdown extends beyond three weeks, according to the head of one of the region’s largest food banks.

The USDA’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program provides Island Harvest in Melville with about 35 healthy food items that are packaged by volunteers and delivered each month to 5,777 seniors with incomes of less than $1,957 per month in Nassau and Suffolk, said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and chief executive of the food bank. Island Harvest is the lone operator of the program on Long Island.

With the lapse in federal funding, the Supplemental Food Program will run out of food in about three weeks, she said.

"This is a program that impacts some of the most vulnerable members of our society — senior citizens who have built up this community and who have an income of less than $1,957 a month to pay, literally, for all of their expenses," Shubin Dresner said. "And we've been supplementing close to 6,000 of these seniors with this food. And now they will have nothing."

Gregory May, director of government and community relations for Island Harvest, adds: "We can no longer submit orders for food as there's nobody at USDA to process the orders. So, the food that we have on hand, we can still deliver to the seniors. But we're not able to place any additional orders."

A USDA spokesperson said in a statement that “nutrition programs will operate based on state choice and the length of a shutdown.”

Contributing to the looming crisis, Shubin Dresner said, is that earlier this year the USDA slashed roughly $4 million in funding for Island Harvest amid major cutbacks to emergency food programs, limiting the non-profit’s reserves and creating a “cascading ripple effect.”

And the need is only expected to grow.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP], which provides food benefits to low-income families, is at risk of running out of funding if the shutdown continues into November.

Thousands of unpaid federal workers could potentially turn to Island Harvest and other local food banks for emergency assistance in the shutdown stretches on, she said.

“Right now, we are projected to distribute well over 21 million pounds this year,” Shubin Dresner said. “But when we budgeted that, we also budgeted where it was going to go and who it was going to support. … But now, there's going to be an increase in need in the community suddenly, and we're going to need to find additional food to make up for that delta; that difference, because it's so sudden and so unexpected.”

Island Harvest has launched a Hunger-Relief Action Fund to help mitigate the impacts of federal funding cuts.

LIers are hoping politicians can work together, come up with a plan

Some Long Islanders are watching and waiting in the hopes that a deal can be reached.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine optimistic shutdown 'doesn't last'

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said Wednesday the county had not seen any effects yet from the federal government shutdown but would be monitoring the situation closely.

“We don’t have a layer-cake government. We have a marble cake. Federal, state and local monies all work together to accomplish things throughout the United States,” Romaine said during a housing event in Central Islip. “We’re monitoring that carefully. We’re hopeful that the shutdown doesn’t last long and that people come to some type of agreement to continue negotiating and make sure the government continues."

Romaine, a Republican, said the funding of health care and social programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Program, or SNAP, were among his top concerns and he expected they would continue to function during the shutdown. Medicare and Medicaid payments to health care providers and the state will continue during the shutdown, with sufficient Medicaid funding available through Dec. 31, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

New York State said SNAP benefits for families will continue as normal until the end of October and families can continue to apply through local Departments of Social Services.

“We’re very hopeful this will be a short duration, and the federal representatives come to their senses, cut an agreement and keep the government running, so we can all benefit from federal services,” Romaine said.

Following LaLota, Gillen seeks to defer salary until government reopens

There's at least a second member of the Long Island congressional delegation asking House officials to withhold her congressional pay until the shutdown ends: Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre).

"I will be deferring my pay until the government is reopened. Both sides need to come to the table and work towards a bipartisan deal that extends the tax credits that keep health care affordable for Long Islanders," she wrote in a post on X.

She displays a letter, dated Oct. 1, to the House's chief administrator office making the no-pay request. Earlier Wednesday, Rep. Nick LaLota, R-Amityville), announced he'd done the same thing, in a letter to the chief administrative officer.

Government funding bill fails again in Senate

A GOP bill to fund the government mostly at current levels has failed for a second day in the Senate.

The bill fell along a similar vote pattern as Tuesday night as most Democrats continued to hold out and demand that Congress take up health care benefits.

Read more here.

Military veterans expected to see few service reductions, VA says

Government-provided health care for veterans of the U.S. military won’t be suspended during the federal shutdown, as VA medical centers, outpatient clinics and veteran centers will remain open, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday.

The agency will also keep processing, and delivering, benefits; burials will continue at national cemeteries; as will the applications for the processing of death benefits and memorials, press secretary Pete Kasperowicz wrote in an email that outlined which services will and won’t continue.

Contact centers, including 1-800-MyVA411 and the Veterans Crisis Line (988, Press 1) will continue to stay open 24/7.

But the shutdown will suspend career counseling services, the GI Bill Hotline, public affairs outreach to veterans; close regional benefits offices, and cut off certain other services.

The agency operates nearly a dozen locations on Long Island, including the Northport VA Medical Center; clinics in Bay Shore, East Meadow, Patchogue, Riverhead and Valley Stream; Vet Centers in Babylon and Hicksville; as well as Calverton National Cemetery and Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale.

Citing estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, Newsday reported last year that Long Island has just over 81,000 veterans.

Amid shutdown, federal government will still cover 9/11 health sufferers

Long Islanders seeking and receiving medical treatment through the World Trade Center Health Program will see no interruption in care during the government shutdown, officials say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which operates the health program, said services for survivors of the nation’s worst terror attacks are unaffected by the shutdown.

Neither the health program, which provides medical treatment for about 137,000 ailing first responders and survivors with conditions linked to toxic exposure from the attacks, nor the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, are funded through Congress’ appropriations process. The programs both have mandatory funding streams that continue after a shutdown, according to Ben Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, an advocacy group.

On its website, the VCF, which provides funding to individuals and families that suffered injuries or were killed during the attack or its aftermath, said it remains “fully operational. Our helpline continues to take calls, and we are reviewing and processing claims. Claimants whose claims are in the payment process during the shutdown should expect delays in the processing of their VCF payment as other federal agencies are involved in the payment process.”

But Michael Barasch, a Manhattan attorney representing thousands of health program members, including those on Long Island, said he still worries that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will follow the federal guidelines.

“We are fearful that anything, including additional furloughs of health program doctors and nurses, is possible,” Barasch said. “We hope that our legislators remember their promise to ‘never forget’ the 9/11 community.”

LaLota wants paycheck withheld until shutdown lifts, asks others to do the same

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) wants his congressional pay withheld for the duration of the government shutdown. And he says Long Island’s two Democratic House members, Reps. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) and Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) should do the same — because they didn’t vote for the GOP’s House-passed bill to keep the government funded.

“As someone who has worn the uniform and stood watch alongside the brave men and women of our military, I feel this action is the least I can do to honor their service as we continue to work for an expedited resolution to any funding lapse,” LaLota wrote to the House’s chief administrative office, in a letter dated Thursday.

LaLota posted that letter on X, adding that he didn’t cause the shutdown, “but I’m withholding my pay until the troops are paid.” He also jabbed that Suozzi and Gillen didn’t vote for the GOP’s stopgap funding measure, “and they should do the same.” He made no suggestion that fellow Republican Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), who did vote for the Republican bill, should put his pay on ice.

At NYC rally, warning of thousands of furloughs for federal workers on LI

At a rally in Lower Manhattan with the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop, New York leaders assailed President Donald Trump and Republicans over the shutdown, and the havoc it is unleashing in the state, across the country and among workers.

“Thousands of individuals in this city will be furloughed. Thousands on Long Island,” said the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, adding, “in upstate New York, in central New York,” with cuts affecting “every possible program you can think of.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul, at the rally, said, “Enough is enough."

“We’re not going to let Donald Trump and these Republicans extinguish the values that our Statue of Liberty symbolizes," she added, with the statue behind her. "And if her flame does go dark here in New York, we know what we must do: We will pick up that torch. We’ll hold it high. Make sure it shines brightly as a symbol of the compassion and the fairness and opportunity that have always been represented by this incredible symbol. This is personal to us."

Federal government puts $18B of infrastructure funds for NYC 'on hold'

On Day 1 of the shutdown, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought suddenly posted on social media that “roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold."

His explanation in the X posting was the move is needed to ensure funding is not flowing based on “unconstitutional” diversity, equity and inclusion principles. He said more information would be provided soon from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

But the timing comes just as two New Yorkers — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) — are leading Democrats in their shutdown standoff against President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

There was no immediate response from the two Democrats. 

Read more here.

Across LI mid-morning, signs of a shutdown spotty

The William Floyd Estate — under the purview of the U.S. National Park Service — was closed to the public Wednesday, its Park Drive entrance gates chained to prevent visitors and cars from entering. The grounds are typically open year-round to the public from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Fire Island Lighthouse — a federal property managed by the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society — is open to the public, a spokesperson said on the phone.

It looked like business as usual at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory a little after 10 a.m., with the parking lot jammed with cars and employees walking around the campus with ID badges slung around their necks.

Lisa Cruz, vice president of communications of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said in an emailed statement that the lab is "a 501(c)3 nonprofit with diverse funding mechanisms, enabling us to continue our mission uninterrupted."

"The length of a government shutdown will ultimately determine the impact to future operations, but it is too soon to predict the effects," she said.

At Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, a steady stream of vehicles were seen entering and existing the main gate onto the campus late Wednesday morning. The laboratory is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and managed by Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership between Stony Brook University, Battelle Memorial Institute and six core universities, according to its website.

The Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, the sprawling former estate of President Theodore Roosevelt, was quiet but not empty around noon, with a pair of park rangers patrolling the grounds and small clumps of people taking to the nature trail. Bursts of color — red, yellow and orange — decorated leaves on the first day of October, and plants lining the fields Roosevelt himself once harvested swayed in the wind as chirping birds provided a muted soundtrack.

It could not have felt farther from Washington, D.C.

Joe Whitton, a Mt. Sinai resident, sat on a bench looking out onto Roosevelt’s home with a cup of apple cider and an apple cider donut.

Roosevelt has always been a “hero” for him, Whitton said. Whitton, a Stony Brook professor in the School of Health Professions, lamented the shutdown as “the way business is these days.”

“T.R. would’ve figured out a way,” Whitton said. “He would’ve grabbed both of ‘em by their collars, sat ‘em down at the table and said ‘Let’s figure this out.’”

White House launches shutdown clock

The White House website launched a government shutdown clock on Wednesday morning, as both Republicans and Democrats continue to trade barbs over who is responsible for the partial government closure.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a post on X shared a link to a White House shutdown tracking website, blaming Democrats for the lapse in funding.

Democrats have countered that they are seeking concessions from the Republican-controlled Congress to safeguard health care subsidies set to expire at the end of the year that expanded health care coverage to millions of Americans during the pandemic.

Social Security office in Patchogue opens, as residents trickle in

At 9:06 a.m., the doors opened to the Social Security office in Patchogue and residents with scheduled appointments were instructed to enter first. Within 10 minutes more than a dozen people were allowed inside.

Lauren Brown, of Coram, said she had a 9 a.m. appointment for a name change after she was recently married.

“It seems like that the offices are going to be open but the thing is are people showing up to work?” she wondered while waiting in line before heading inside.

The Social Security Administration is expected to furlough over 6,000 employees during the duration of the shutdown, according to the agency's contingency plan.

Bernard Addy of Deer Park said he had no issues at the office when he arrived for his scheduled appointment.

“It went very smoothly,” he said. “You don’t notice anything like the government is shut down. … I got here; within 10 minutes I’m out.”

Tony Pinto of Middle Island said he needed a replacement Social Security card and made an appointment about a month ago for Wednesday. He said he was relieved the office was still open. “I think the federal government needs to get their butt together and work bipartisan,” he said of the shutdown.

“We pay the price,” he added. “The little people always get hit. Those guys in those seats don’t know what it is to be hit with what’s going on.”

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments will continue, despite the shutdown, the Social Security Administration said in its contingency plan published last week.

Several basic services will continue, according to the plan, including benefit applications, information changes and eligibility hearings.

Medicare benefits will continue as well, the federal government said, and funding is available for Medicaid through the first quarter of fiscal year 2026.

In 2023, $641.6 million in Social Security benefits was paid to 312,015 recipients in Suffolk County and $575.8 million was paid to 270,745 people in Nassau County, according to the state comptroller's office.

More than 16,800 federal government employees worked on Long Island in 2024, the state comptroller's office said.

The comptroller's office also notes 366,980 Suffolk County residents and 308,393 Nassau County residents are enrolled in Medicaid.

Federal OMB director to speak with GOP to outline layoff plans

A conference call set for 1 p.m. between House Republicans and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought is expected provide greater detail of the Trump's administration's plans in terms of using the shutdown to pursue layoffs and agency reshaping.

Vought last week directed agencies to prepare "reduction in force" plans in the event of a shutdown. Two unions representing federal workers — the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — have already filed lawsuits over the threats to conduct mass layoffs.

'Business as usual' at IRS office in Holtsville for first 5 days of shutdown

At the gated IRS office in Holtsville, a security guard told Newsday that appointments were being taken on Wednesday and everything was “business as usual.”

The IRS will remain open for the first five days of a federal shutdown, according to the U.S. Treasury.

Democrats, Republicans will continue making pitches to Americans on first day of shutdown

New York’s junior Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is to hold a virtual news conference at 11 a.m., one of many messaging efforts expected on Wednesday from both sides of the political aisle. The back-and-forth gets underway when Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) hold a Capitol news conference at 10 a.m.

Gillibrand's presser is to focus one of the main Democratic demands in the face-off — the demand to continue the enhanced COVID-era tax subsidies for Affordable Care Act recipients. Those are set to expire at the end of the year. The senator will note that without an extension, at least 1.6 million New Yorkers will face an average yearly increase of $1,360 in the amount they pay for their premiums. Key Republicans and conservatives oppose that idea, but there are some in the GOP who have indicated they may be open to an extension, and this could be a path toward a deal to end the shutdown.

Few signs of shutdown at 2 LI gov't sites

Hundreds of employee cars at the Holtsville IRS were seen parked or driving into the parking lot on a crisp Wednesday morning.

No signage regarding the government shutdown appeared by the visitors entrance, which opens for appointments at 8:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, outside the entrance to the U.S. Social Security Administration office on Oak Street in Patchogue, there was no indication as of 8:30 a.m. of any changes due to the shutdown.

No residents were lined up in advance of the 9 a.m. opening.

More than 30 vehicles were parked in the lot, however, with some people seen entering the employee entrance.

By Maureen Mullarkey and Joe Werkmeister

The blame game is underway

Predictions vary at this early point on which party will be blamed for a prolonged shutdown.

“In all likelihood, neither party will come out ahead but one will lose more than the other,” said Joshua Huder, a congressional expert at the at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute in Washington.

But Huder suggested that congressional Democrats seeking to tack-on extra health care-related items to a must-pass short-term government funding extension could skew the blame toward them.

“We'll see how it plays out," he said, b"ut I don't think they're in a blameless position.”

Thousands of LI federal workers will learn status today

There are about 31,000 civilian federal workers living on Long Island. Many will for the first time learn their shutdown-employment status Wednesday at their workplaces.

In a memo to federal agency heads Tuesday night, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, writes “employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities.”

Shutdown will halt some work at a diminished Education Department

The department says many of its core operations will continue in the shutdown kicking off Wednesday. Federal financial aid will keep flowing, and student loan payments will still be due. But investigations into civil rights complaints will stop, and the department will not issue new federal grants. About 87% of its workforce will be furloughed, according to a department contingency plan.

Read more here.

Here are some possible effects of a government shutdown

Employee furloughs and potential layoffs would halt some government activities. Other functions — like NASA's space missions, President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown and certain public health work at FDA and the USDA — would continue.

Here is a look at some of what agencies are planning.

Government shutdown could take wide ranging toll on workers, services on Long Island

For Long Islanders, this U.S. government shutdown carries potentially bigger stakes and far more sweeping impacts than previous federal closures.

Congressional auditors are predicting as many as 750,000 federal employees nationally could be furloughed each day, and agencies have plans outlining significant scaling back or halting of some services. On top of that, President Donald Trump and his lieutenants have threatened that mass firings could occur.

Read more here.

Trump administration blames Democrats for shutdown in official government warnings as deadline nears

With the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years looming, the Trump administration is using official government communications to blame Democrats and promote the president's policies.

At least one agency has posted a public warning blaming “the massive pain” of any shutdown on “The Radical Left,” provoking questions about potential violations of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees.

Read more here.

What will happen if there's a government shutdown at day's end

What happens in a shutdown?

When a lapse in funding occurs, the law requires agencies to cease activity and furlough “non-excepted” employees. Excepted employees include those who work to protect life and property. They stay on the job but don't get paid until after the shutdown ends.  Read more here.

U.S. government on brink of first shutdown in almost 7 years during partisan standoff

With a government shutdown just hours away, Democrats and Republicans in Congress are angrily blaming each other and refusing to budge from their positions. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says Republicans are trying to “bully” Democrats by refusing to negotiate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans “are not going to be held hostage” by the Democrats’ demands, which include an extension of health care benefits. To avoid a shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, the Senate would have to pass a House measure that would extend federal funding for seven weeks while lawmakers finish their work on annual spending bills. But a resolution appears far off. Read more here.

Wall Street yawns at DC's looming shutdown as the Dow sets another record

U.S. stocks coasted to the finish of their latest winning month on Tuesday, as Wall Street yawned at the potential shutdown of the U.S. federal government that’s looming.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% to close out its fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 81 points, or 0.2%, to set its own all-time high, and the Nasdaq composite ticked 0.3% higher.

Read more here.