The Latest: Vote to end government shutdown fails as Democrats hold firm on health care demands

The U.S. Senate adjourned for the day on Wednesday 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.

At issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t extend them — which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to a KFF analysis.

Senators will return Friday, after a break for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, to vote again on a GOP measure to extend federal funding for seven weeks.

Here's the latest:

A top Air Force commander announces retirement on social media

Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, announced his “difficult decision to request retirement from the United States Air Force for personal and family reasons” in a post on his command’s Facebook page late Tuesday.

He had been tapped to take over as the service’s No. 2 uniformed officer after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suddenly fired the general in that job without explanation in February. The Air Force didn’t respond to questions seeking more information about Bussiere’s decision to retire.

Bussiere’s announcement came the same day Hegseth told a gathering of top military leaders that if they disagreed with his approach to leading the nation’s military, “then you should do the honorable thing and resign.”

Some furloughed employees’ out-of-office replies reset to have language blaming Democrats for shutdown

Out-of-office email messages for furloughed employees at the Education Department were reset Wednesday with language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

“On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution,” the message said. “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations.”

Some employees tried to change it to something nonpartisan only to see it reverted back, according to an employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Some viewed it as a violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by U.S. federal employees. But people were unable to file complaints because the website for the department’s Inspector General is down during the shutdown. The watchdog’s website has been replaced with a short message: “Due to a lack of apportionment of funds, this website is currently unavailable.”

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— By Collin Binkley

The US military has long been an engine of social change. Hegseth’s approach runs counter to that

Historically, the U.S. military has been an engine for cultural and social change in America. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s vision for the armed forces he leads runs counter to that.

In comments Tuesday to hundreds of military leaders and their chief enlisted advisers, Hegseth made clear he was not interested in a diverse or inclusive force.

“The military has often been ahead of at least some broader social, cultural, political movements,” said Ronit Stahl, associate professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. ”The desegregation of the armed forces is perhaps the most classic example.”

President Harry S. Truman’s desegregation order in 1948 came six years before the Supreme Court ordered school desegregation in the Brown vs. Board of Education case — and, Stahl said, “that obviously takes a long time to implement, if it ever fully is implemented.”

▶ Read more about the role the military has played in social change

Trump administration not furloughing workers needed for oil, gas, coal approvals

The Department of Interior is keeping on employees needed to approve fossil fuel projects during the shutdown.

The agency is exempting from widespread furloughs employees who work on oil, gas and coal leases and permits, according to contingency plans for Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management.

That would allow the administration to push ahead with plans to spur more drilling and mining by private companies on public lands and in the Gulf of Mexico.

The land bureau plan cites a “National Energy Emergency” that critics accuse the Trump administration of fabricating to further its energy agenda.

About one quarter of the land bureau’s employees and most of the ocean bureau’s employees would be furloughed for the shutdown, the plans show.

Lessons from past shutdowns

Past shutdowns show that it’s hard to win major concessions by closing the government.

In 2018, the government shut down for three days as Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, insisted that any budget measure come with protections for young immigrants known as “Dreamers” under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They voted to reopen after then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised only a vote on the issue.

Later that year, Trump forced a shutdown over funding for his border wall and retreated after 35 days as delays at the nation’s airports intensified and hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed paydays.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Republicans triggered a shutdown in 2013 over Obama’s health care law. Bipartisan negotiations in the Senate finally ended the shutdown after 16 days, and Republicans did not win any major concessions on health care.

“I don’t think shutdowns benefit anybody, least of all the American people,” Thune said.

What Americans think of Congress

Congress had few fans with the American public, even before the shutdown.

It’s hard to find an American who has “a great deal” of confidence in the way Congress is being run, according to AP-NORC polling. Only 6% said they had a high level of confidence in the people running Congress in polling from this summer. About half had “only some” and 44% had hardly any confidence in how Congress was being run.

Confidence tends to be low among Democrats and Republicans, regardless of which party is in power. About 10% of Republicans had “a great deal” of confidence in Congress, compared to 2% of Democrats.

Looming health insurance spikes for millions are at the heart of the government shutdown

A record 24 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, in large part because billions of dollars in subsidies have made the plans more affordable for many.

With the expanded subsidies in place, some lower-income enrollees can get health care with no premiums, and high earners pay no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners is also expanded.

When the tax credits expire at the end of 2025, enrollees across the income spectrum will see costs spike. Annual out-of-pocket premiums are estimated to increase by 114% — an average of $1,016 — next year, according to an analysis by KFF.

Democrats have insisted an extension of the health subsidies needs to be negotiated immediately as people are beginning to receive notices of premium increases for next year.

At the White House on Monday, congressional Democratic leaders shared their health care concerns with Trump. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said after the meeting that Trump “was not aware” that so many Americans would see increases to their health care costs.

▶ Read more about the health care issues central to the shutdown here

Shutdown adds to the stress on air traffic controllers and the aviation safety net

The government shutdown puts even more stress on the system that keeps planes safe when air traffic controllers are already stretched thin and relying on outdated equipment that breaks often.

The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Nick Daniels, said a shutdown that forces air traffic controllers to work without a paycheck only adds to the stress.

“They’re out there working right now with critical staffing — the lowest staffing we’ve had in decades of only 10,800, where there should be 14,633. And on top of that, they’re working with unreliable equipment,” Daniels said. “Anything that adds to that stress and pressure absolutely puts them in a position to not be able to operate at their peak performance.”

During the last shutdown that drug on for 35 days, some controllers even got second jobs to help make ends meet.

If the system can’t handle all the flights scheduled safely, the FAA will impose restrictions, leading to more delays and cancellations for travelers.

WIC can maintain normal services for 1 to 2 weeks in most states

Funding for the $8 billion program that provides food assistance to pregnant women, babies and young children is almost depleted, but states likely have enough resources to maintain normal operations for one to two weeks during a government shutdown.

That includes new enrollments in most states in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, according to Ali Hard, policy director for the National WIC Association. One state, Mississippi, has halted applications during the shutdown, according to a web posting.

“We feel good about one to two weeks,” Hard said. “After that, we are very worried.”

The program serves nearly 7 million women and children per month, about half of those eligible in the U.S.

Trump spoke to emir of Qatar as administration continues reassurance effort

The president spoke to Qatar’s ruling Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on Wednesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The White House did not offer details about the call, but it came hours after the administration published a notification that Trump this week issued an executive order vowing to use U.S. military action, if needed, to defend Qatar.