The U.S. government shutdown has now entered its third day after the Senate failed to pass a critical spending bill before the Yom Kippur holiday. Although the Senate remained open on Thursday, no vote was held in observance of Judaism’s holiest day. The next vote is expected Friday, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune has already indicated that a weekend breakthrough is unlikely, raising the prospect that the shutdown could extend well into next week.
Efforts to break the deadlock have so far fallen short, with both Republican and Democratic proposals unable to secure the 60 votes required for passage. Lawmakers remain deeply divided along partisan lines, and the House of Representatives is expected to return next week with a new plan. Speaker Mike Johnson said the House is preparing to present a fresh bill to the Senate, while Republicans continue working to persuade individual senators to back their proposal.
The Senate makeup currently favors Republicans, who hold 53 seats compared with Democrats’ 45, along with two independents—Angus King and Bernie Sanders—who typically side with Democrats but not in every instance. Earlier this week, some Democrats, including Nevada’s Catherine Cortez Masto, crossed the aisle to support the Republican deal, arguing that preventing a prolonged shutdown outweighed partisan considerations.
Adding further uncertainty, President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to use the shutdown as an opportunity to cut the federal workforce, breaking from the long-standing practice of temporary furloughs. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that potential job cuts could number in the thousands. In addition, $26 billion in federal programs—mostly in Democratic-led states such as California, New York, and Illinois—have already been frozen.
Economists warn that the longer the shutdown continues, the greater the toll on the U.S. economy. Ernst & Young has estimated that each week of government closure could cost around $7 billion in lost output. With negotiations stalled and political divisions widening, the standoff is expected to have increasingly serious consequences if no compromise is reached soon.