At day 18 of the government shutdown, this is currently the third-longest shutdown, with Congress and the president looking like they won’t reach an agreement. The longest shutdown occurred during President Trump’s first term in office, lasting 35 days. Currently, our congress members, specifically the democrats, are looking like they don’t want to bend to the terms of others at this moment. In a statement from representative Hakeem Jefferies given to the New York Times, he says, “We’re not going to bend, we’re not going to break. All of these efforts to try to intimidate Democratic members of the House and Senate are not going to work.”
With Congress set in their ideas, Trump is taking this time to set out his own initiative. He is using this time to remake the federal bureaucracy and Jettison programs he’s been opposed to. One of the major issues with the budget has been healthcare this year. President Trump is trying to solve this issue on his own at the moment. Using methods and manipulating the budget in a way that many would consider outside of his jurisdiction and illegal.
Some of the major impacts this shutdown has had at this current time are the pausing of infrastructure projects in Democrat run cities like New York and Boston. There have also been 750,000 workers furloughed, and essential workers are still available without pay. Active military as well as forces like ICE are still getting paid at Trump’s demands without congressional approval. The 42 million Americans who receive food stamps are going to be seeing some issues with the distribution of them if the shutdown continues much longer. Programs for children, such as the National Head Start Program, which helps in need kids with education, nutrition, and family support, are already working without funding. They are currently using emergency funds.
Congress has another meeting set for October 20th to try again to get the budget approved.
As of October 24th there is still no agreement reached to reopen the government. The military just received a 130 million dollar donation from a private donor to pay the troops.
Still no end in sight with everyone waiting until others break. Some senators like the senator of Pennsylvania are fighting to reopen no matter what.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/trump-democrats-shutdown-deal.html