(WASHINGTON) — The government shutdown is in its third day on Friday with senators set to vote for the fourth time on bills to fund the government. But with negotiations appearing stalled, it’s looking like the shutdown could extend through the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, the Senate will vote on a GOP-backed seven-week stopgap funding measure and a Democrat funding bill that includes health care provisions. But with both Republican and Democratic leaders at a stalemate, it seems as if neither bill will pass.
Both bills have failed during the three previous votes since the government shut down on Wednesday at 12:01 a.m.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he does not expect to hold votes over the weekend and the next chance to try again would be Monday. This shutdown could go on at least six days if that ends up being the case.
Thune, meanwhile, is continuing his effort to recruit more Democrats to join the GOP-backed funding bill. And Democrats are expected to meet Friday afternoon to discuss their next moves.
“Until they have eight or hopefully more, 10 or more people, who want to decide they want to end the government shutdown, I’m not sure this goes anywhere,” Thune said of Democrats on Thursday.
As the Senate works to chart a path forward, President Donald Trump is once again teasing to looming federal firings, which the White House said are “very real” and could result in “thousands” of federal workers losing their jobs during the shutdown.
The president posted an AI-generated video on his social media platform Friday morning showing Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper as the administration threatens mass layoffs for federal workers.
“Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” someone sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol as the character.
On Friday morning, Vought announced $2.1 billion in funding for a Chicago’s Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project are being put on hold “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
It is the latest instance of the Trump Administration targeting projects in Democratic strongholds after the Trump administration put on hold $18 billion in infrastructure funding for New York City and cancelled $8 billion for energy projects in 16 states that voted with Democrats in the last presidential election.
Because of the shutdown, there was no jobs report released Friday, delaying an update to key economic data and snapshot of the labor market. More than 2,000 Bureau of Labor Statistics employees are currently furloughed.
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