US shutdown enters second week as Senate votes again on funding bill

"Many agencies and departments closed their doors and told employees to stay home last Wednesday, after Congress failed to approve legislation to continue the government's authority to spend money. Democrats have refused to back any bill that does not include an array of healthcare-centered concessions, but Congress's Republican leaders have refused to negotiate over their demands until government funding is restored."

"We hope that the vote will not fail, because this administration wants to reopen the government, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt said that if the shutdown stretches on, a program thats pays for food for low-income mothers and children would exhaust its funding, while government employees would miss a paycheck, though federal law entitles them to back pay."

"In the days since the shut down began, Russ Vought, the director of the White House office of management and budget, has cancelled funding for energy projects in several states, as well as transportations developments in Chicago and New York all of which are areas governed by Democrats. But though he warned before funding lapsed that he would use it as an opportunity to deepen cuts to the federal workforce, those have largely not yet taken place."

The US federal government entered a second week of shutdown with no bipartisan deal to restore funding. Many agencies closed after Congress failed to extend spending authority. Democrats are insisting on healthcare-related concessions while Republican leaders refuse to negotiate before funding is restored. The Senate scheduled a fifth set of votes on competing measures that appear unlikely to pass. The White House warned of exhausted assistance programs, missed paychecks despite entitlement to back pay, and potential layoffs. The administration cancelled select energy and transportation project funding, particularly in Democratic areas, though large-scale federal workforce cuts have not yet occurred.

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