Inside (the Beltway) Scoop

By: Ellen Kuo
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Key Activities During the Shutdown

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has tried multiple times to bring Senate Democrats to vote for a continuing resolution (CR) until November 21 over the past few weeks. He needs at a minimum five Democrats to support cloture to allow a vote on the bill. Thune is still offering Democrats votes on their priorities, but only after the government reopens. However, Democrats have stood firm on refusing to support the GOP CR without extending the tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). November 1 is the start date for widespread ACA open enrollment, and Democrats are urging their party to stay firm and not refocus on the spending bills.

Republicans are using the efforts to complete the fiscal year 2026 spending bills as an incentive to soften the Democrats to gain their support. The Senate is trying to use the Labor, Health and Humans Services and the Defense spending bills to do so. Prior to the shutdown, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole wanted to see Agriculture, Military Construction and Legislative Branch spending bills completed.  House conferees were named, but there are still no Senate conferees to start the formal process of reaching an agreement on text between the chambers.

Also, the reduction in force (RIFS) in the federal government continues to increase the angst between Congress and the administration. Firings began on October 10. Highlighting the RIFs was a press event on October 14 outside of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with federal workers and Senators and Representatives from Maryland and Virginia objecting to the illegal mass firings of public servants. OMB Director said more than 10,000 employees are at risk. 

The union led lawsuit 3:25-cv-08302 filed in California on September 30 alleged the administration was violating the law by threatening to fire federal employees during the government shutdown. On October 15, Judge Susan Illston ruled on the unions’ motion for a TRO, where the unions won, thereby stopping the layoffs. On October 17, Illston held an urgent status conference after a declaration supporting the plaintiffs that the government was planning to violate the TRO by terminating employees the Department of Interior on October 20. She said the government should not be carrying out layoffs while the TRO was in effect, and plaintiffs asked the court to add three more unions to the lawsuit to broaden the number of employees covered after the government argued that TRO does not apply to their employees since some agencies do not have an obligation to bargain with the unions. Illston verbally amended the TRO to be clearer to protect the federal employees from being RIFed.

Appropriators have also stood against these layoffs, such as Senator Susan Collins, claiming they would result in a lack of sufficient personnel needed to conduct the mission of federal agencies and deliver essential programs. House Appropriations Ranking member Rosa DeLauro said, “This is a corrupt abuse of power. There is nothing about the Republican shutdown that suddenly nullifies legal protections for federal employees.”

Hard to keep up. Research!America offers a handy timeline of administrative actions impacting medical research.