Politics

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has continued to use social media to troll Democrats and threaten targeted cuts with two deepfake videos featuring Project 2025’s co-author and another mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

In one post late Thursday, the president posted an AI-generated video depicting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought as the “Grim Reaper” while the administration threatens mass layoffs of federal workers and cuts to what Trump calls “Democratic Agencies.”

Trump met earlier Thursday with Vought, who co-authored and heralded Project 2025 the conservative policy playbook that has advocated for firing federal workers and the elimination of federal agencies.

“Russ Vought is the Reaper. He wields the pen, the funds, and the brain. Here comes the Reaper,” a voice sings in the video as Vought is depicted walking through the Capitol dressed as the character depicting impending doom.

Hours after the post, Vought posted on X that he was going to withhold federal funding for transit infrastructure projects in Chicago, a Democratic run city that has been the source of complaints from Trump.

Vought earlier in the week withheld funding for transit infrastructure projects for New York and New Jersey, also Democratic run states.

In another post, Trump highlighted another AI-generated video of him trolling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a “TRUMP 2028” hat while they appeared to negotiate in the White House on Monday.

It was on Monday that Trump also posted an AI-generated video that depicted Jeffries with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero in a Mexican stereotype.

Jeffries, who called Monday’s video “racist” and “bigoted,” was asked about the latest deep fake on Friday morning in an interview on MSNBC.

“It’s further confirmation that Republicans are the ones who were clearly determined to shut the government down because everything that President Trump has done subsequent to Monday has been unhinged and unserious. In fact, Donald Trump is in the presidential witness protection program,” the minority leader said.

“No one can find him when it comes to the government shutdown issue because he knows he’s responsible for having caused it. And the behavior, the erratic behavior that we’ve seen, is further confirmation of that unfortunate fact,” he added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance have defended Trump’s memes, arguing they were jokes to make fun of Democrats. Vance said he didn’t understand how Jeffries could consider Monday’s video racist.

Republicans on the Hill have argued that the federal workers are suffering the most during the government shutdown and have pushed Democrats to reopen the government to protect their jobs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has echoed that message and claimed that Vought does not want to get anyone fired if he can avoid it.

However, he defended the president’s memes when asked about them on Friday.

“Are they taking great pleasure or not? No. Is he trolling the Democrats? Yes. Because that is what President Trump does and people are having fun with this. But at the end of the day, the decisions are tough,” Johnson said.

“The effects are really serious on real people, real Americans. We support federal employees who do a great job in all of these different areas, but what they’re trying to have fun with, trying to make light of, was to point out the absurdity that is the Democrats position,” he said.

“And they are using the memes and the tools of social media to do that. Some people find that entertaining, but the decisions are hard ones and they are not taking any pleasure in that,” Johnson added.

Legal experts argued the Constitution and federal law allow only Congress to declare cuts to federal agencies or remove them entirely.

The White House has not provided more details on the legality of Trump’s threats, nor has it responded to questions as to how firing people who are not getting paid would cut down on waste.

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.

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(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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(WASHINGTON) — The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) encouraged federal employees across the government — including at the Departments of Labor, Justice and Education — to create out-of-office email messages denouncing “Democrat Senators” for causing the government shutdown, multiple sources confirmed to ABC News.

In addition to the public statements on federal websites blaming the “radical left” for the shutdown, out-of-office automatic replies from the Department of Labor said the following:

“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text of an email template provided to furloughed Department of Labor employees said.

Department of Labor email text

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided the following template language to establish employees’ out-of-office notifications.

“Furloughed Employees: Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text read.

A template for essential federal employees, which the government refers to as “expected” employees, used similar language. Federal employees within the Departments of Justice and Education told ABC News they also received messages with similar language.

Excepted Employees: Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. I am only permitted to perform work that, by law, may continue to be performed during a lapse in appropriations. Therefore, I may not be able to respond to your message at this time. As soon as funding is restored, I will return your message.

The approach appears to differ with each agency. Some federal departments did not send out any out-of-office email guidance.

However, multiple furloughed employees at the Department of Education report their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to mimic the language above – without their permission.

“They changed our out-of-office message… [They] did it after everyone left,” one department of education staffer told ABC News. “[I’m] so pissed,” they said.

The employee added, “We as career government employees need to be neutral when carrying out our jobs. This is such bull—-.”

Several federal workers, including the education department staffer, expressed concern to ABC News that adding the messages to their email accounts would violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities during their official duties.

The education department employee, furious about the message, stressed that federal workers are supposed to “serve all people of this country.”

The employee continued, “That [automatic reply] message is what anyone seeking assistance from a government worker is going to see.”

Similarly, when emailing the White House press office recently, ABC News received an automatic response that read, “Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays… as you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.”

The education department’s press office is also using the nearly identical automatic reply that OMB had provided to the Department of Labor. However, some automatic replies from individual press officers within the agency said that due to a “lapse in appropriations,” they would attempt to reply if it is allowable as an “excepted activity.”

Department of Education press office email text

“Thank you for contacting the press team. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations, we are currently in furlough status. We will respond to emails once government functions resume,” the text read.

In addition, when submitting a request for comment at the State Department, an automated message was sent to ABC News that stated, “Thank you for your inquiry. Please note that responses may be delayed due to the government shutdown caused by congressional Democrats.”

A State Department official told ABC News that some staffers who had been furloughed had similar messaging in their automated “out of office” replies, blaming the furlough on democrats.

And on its website, under a bright red banner, the State Department notes that website updates will be limited due to the “Democrat-led” shutdown, seemingly in line with messaging seen on websites across agencies in Washington.

The political messaging is exceedingly rare coming from the State Department, which for decades has conducted itself as a largely apolitical entity with career-based staff who typically remain nonpartisan. Meanwhile, scores of federal employees are expected to be fired as a result of the shutdown by the end of the week, administration officials said.

ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report

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(WASHINGTON) — As the government shutdown enters its second day on Thursday, there’s no end in sight, with the Trump administration potentially firing some federal workers in the next day and Republican senators looking to peel off wavering Democrats to support the GOP’s government funding bill.

The Senate will not hold votes on Thursday. After the failing of government funding bills Wednesday, the Senate adjourned for Yom Kippur. The next votes are scheduled for Friday.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are working to recruit more Democrats to back their House-passed, GOP-backed seven-week stopgap funding measure that would allow the government to operate.

Majority Leader John Thune said that he believes rank-and-file Democrats will eventually break with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass a short-term funding bill to reopen the government. 

“I think there are a lot of rank-and-file Democrats who are regretting letting Schumer lock them down into this rat hole,” Thune said in an appeared on Fox News’ “Hannity” Wednesday night. 

Democrats hung together Wednesday afternoon to block, for the third time, a stopgap funding bill offered by Republicans. Democrats are insisting that any solution address their demands on health care before they vote to advance it.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, are continuing to talk to lawmakers on Capitol Hill with aims to “encourage Democrats” to acquiesce and support the GOP short-term continuing resolution. 

“The president, vice president, the entire team here will continue to work and talk to members on the Hill to try and come to a resolution to try to encourage Democrats to muster up the courage to do the right thing,” Leavitt said.

On Fox News Thursday morning, Leavitt said those discussions were happening specifically with “moderate Democrats and also with ally Senate Republicans who have good relationships with these moderates.”

Still, finger pointing continues as Democrats and Republicans trade blame for the shutdown.

On Thursday morning, Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats and Schumer for the ongoing shutdown, calling their stance “selfish” and “reprehensible.”

“I don’t have anything to negotiate,” Johnson said, after saying the House sent a clean continuing resolution to the Senate that funds the government for seven weeks.

Democrats are hitting back with Schumer saying in a social media post that “Republicans shut down the government because they can’t be bothered to protect health care for Americans across this country.”

The blame-casting is extending online, too. In addition to the public statements on federal websites blaming the “radical left” for the government shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget encouraged federal employees to create out-of-office email messages denouncing “Democrat senators” for causing the government shutdown, sources told ABC News.

Trump said he has a meeting scheduled with OMB Director Russ Vought on Thursday to determine which agencies he “recommends” be cut — either temporarily or permanently.

Last week, the Trump administration threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown. Vought warned House Republicans on a conference call Wednesday that the administration will start firing federal workers in the next “day or two,” multiple sources told ABC News.

It wasn’t yet clear which departments and agencies could first be impacted, though the Trump administration has said it would go after projects in Democratic states — including putting on hold $18 billion in infrastructure funding for New York City and cancelling $8 billion for energy projects in 16 states that voted with Democrats in the last presidential election.

“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump said in a Thursday social media post about cuts during the shutdown.

Trump also wrote on social media late Wednesday night that he wants Republicans to use the shutdown as an “opportunity” to save billions of dollars by clearing out “dead wood, waste, and fraud.”

ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — One of the preeminent U.S. attorney’s offices in the country is facing mounting turmoil in the wake of the move last week by a Trump-installed prosecutor to indict former FBI Director James Comey.

Two top attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have been fired from their jobs in recent days, sources told ABC, and lawyers in the office believe their removals were driven by political vengeance on behalf of President Donald Trump.

The office’s top national security official, Michael Ben-Ary, was informed Wednesday of his termination just hours after a MAGA-aligned activist posted on social media about his past work in the office of former Biden-era Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, sources told ABC News.

Ben-Ary, who had risen through ranks of federal law enforcement over the past 20 years, was the lead attorney on the case of Mohammad Sharifullah — an alleged plotter who is accused of assisting ISIS-K in the bombing of Abbey Gate whose case and extradition to the U.S. was announced by Trump in a joint address to Congress earlier this year. Sharifullah is set to stand trial in early December.

Another prosecutor, Maya Song, the former deputy to Erik Siebert — who was ousted two weeks ago under pressure from Trump — was fired last Friday by Siebert’s replacement Lindsey Halligan, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. 

Song had opted to accept a demotion as a line prosecutor in the wake of Siebert’s resignation after he resisted pressure to bring charges against both Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, sources previously told ABC News.

It’s not immediately clear whether Song was given a specific rationale for her removal, but it followed a torrent of criticism from right-wing influencers who had similarly highlighted her previous service during the Biden administration under Monaco.

In a Truth Social post last week, Trump demanded Microsoft immediately fire Monaco from her recently announced role as the company’s president of global affairs, citing what he alleged was her direct involvement in the prosecutions he faced after leaving his first term in office.

Ben-Ary and Song’s removals are likely to further sink morale inside the already embattled office, sources told ABC. The office, considered among the most important prosecutorial offices in the country, handles the bulk of the federal government’s most sensitive national security cases.

ABC News has reached out to the DOJ, Ben-Ary and Song for comment.

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(NEW YORK)– Sarah Manasrah has received aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children — commonly known as WIC — since her first child was born six years ago.

The 37-year-old mother who lives with her husband and two girls, who are 6 and 3 years old, in Brooklyn, New York, told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that she didn’t even know that the federal government shutdown could possibly affect WIC benefits — which supplements nutritious foods for low-income families — for her and her children.

“They do not care about families. They say they do to push through their political agenda,” Manasrah said of Republican and Democratic members of Congress, who failed to reach an agreement to fund the government, effectively shutting it down on Wednesday.

Manasrah said she uses WIC benefits to provide about $27 for fresh fruits and vegetables, and allowances for a certain amount of specified nutritious foods like eggs, whole-wheat bread, milk and baby formula free of charge using a government-provided expense card that replenishes once a month.

The mother of two also used WIC’s breast-feeding support program through a peer counselor who assisted her with her first child.

How will the shutdown impact WIC?
Experts told ABC News that they were unsure of the exact impacts a shutdown will have on WIC beneficiaries, since individual states will each have to decide if they can supplement the funds, and the amounts can vary depending on the state.

Ali Hard, director of public policy for the National WIC Association, told ABC News on Tuesday that WIC recipients may start to see their benefits impacted after the first or second week of the shutdown.

She said that WIC has $150 million in contingency funding in the event of a shutdown and $135 million in monthly baby formula rebate checks that would help the program run smoothly for about a week or two.

After that, both new and current WIC beneficiaries will start to see their benefits impacted, especially those in areas without state funds to supplement the loss of federal dollars, Hard said.

“The timing of this shutdown at the start of the new fiscal year puts WIC at risk of rapidly running out of funds,” Hard’s group said in a statement released on Tuesday. “This failure needlessly jeopardizes the health and nutrition of millions of pregnant women, new mothers, infants, and young children who rely on WIC. … Every day of inaction brings us closer to a crisis. Failure to rapidly reopen the government could result in State WIC directors being put in the horrible position of trying to manage their programs with insufficient funds.”

With the federal government shuttered, some states will have to dip into their own coffers to pay for WIC benefits.

Democratic Reps. Bobby Scott and Suzanne Bonamici sent a letter on Wednesday to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, whose department oversees the WIC program, urging the secretary to lay out a plan on how the department plans to replenish state funds used to supplement WIC benefits once the shutdown is over.

“The WIC program serves as a lifeline for families; the program’s caseload increased by 5 percent in Fiscal Year 2023 from 6.4 million participants to 6.7 million, underscoring the need to fully fund the program each year without delay or uncertainty,” the representatives stated in their letter.

In 2013, during a 16-day government shutdown, “states relied on their general funds to continue WIC services and were then reimbursed with federal funds once the shutdown was over; however, there is uncertainty over whether the federal government would take the same action this time,” the letter stated.

A spokesperson with the USDA sent ABC News a letter from the department, was dated Oct, 1, 2025, and addressed to directors of the Supplemental Nutrition Division in all regions saying that state agencies could pull funding from rebates, state-appropriated or general funds, and contingency funds. But they were not permitted to use any extra FY 2025 funds for FY 2026 costs, according to the letter.

“Nutrition programs will operate based on State choice and the length of a shutdown,” the USDA spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday. “If Democrats do not fund the government, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) will run out of funding and States will have to make a choice.”

A spokesperson with the White House’s Office of Management and Budget also lay the blame on Democrats.

“By instigating a government shutdown, Democrats are turning their back on WIC recipients,” an OMB spokesperson said in a statement. “The program will run out of money in October and women and children could no longer receive benefits. The White House and Republicans in the House-passed CR added $600 million so there will be no loss of benefits–clearly Democrats are ok with women and children losing WIC benefits.”

Democrats have blamed Republicans for the shutdown, citing what they say is an unwillingness to negotiate over health care provisions. 

President Donald Trump’s administration has made notable attempts to promote families and reiterated that more babies need to be born in the United States.

According to the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again Report, WIC provides exclusively nutritious foods for pregnant and breastfeeding women, women who recently had a baby, and infants and children up to 5 years old. WIC supplies nutrition education and support for approximately 6.7 million women and children nationwide, according to the MAHA Report.

“WIC has a proven track record of improving children’s health,” according to the MAHA Report. “Research has shown that recipients experience improved pregnancy outcomes, better birth weights, higher immunization rates, improved diet quality, and cognitive gains. … A study showed the 2009 WIC food package change may have helped reverse increasing childhood obesity rates.”

Manasrah, the Brooklyn mother of two, is a doula who supports pregnant women before birth and provides them post-partum assistance. She also works for the non-profit Bridge Project that gives money and assistance to low-income mothers during pregnancy, birth, and the earliest days of their babies’ lives.

She says a vast majority of the women she works with receive WIC benefits.

“Most families I know, rely on WIC for their formula, if they’re using formula, and that’s literally keeping babies alive,” Manasrah said. “So, it’s not an exaggeration to say that WIC is a lifesaving program for families.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday — the first day of a government shutdown — once again failed to pass bills aimed at funding the government as congressional leaders continue to trade blame for the shutdown.

Negotiations appear to be underway, and Friday is the next opportunity for the Senate to vote on government funding — leaving many Americans to wonder what’s next with the shutdown.

The Senate held two votes on funding bills that mirrored the failed votes they took on Tuesday, resulting in a government shutdown that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Both failed — resulting in the government shutdown continuing.

What’s next?

After the failing of the bills Wednesday morning, the Senate is expected to take votes on other matters in the afternoon and then they’re expected to depart for Yom Kippur. Though things could always change if some sort of deal is struck.

The Senate is not expected to hold any additional votes on government funding until Friday at the earliest, all but assuring this shutdown stretches on at least until Friday. 

Bipartisan path forward?

During Wednesday’s vote on whether to advance a seven-week stopgap funding bill, a large bipartisan huddle of senators gathered. The group included a number of closely watched moderates including Sens. Gary Peters, Jacky Rosen, Raphael Warnock, Ruben Gallego, Ben Ray Lujan and more.

Lawmakers who left that huddle told ABC News that the conversations they were having were preliminary. But it’s clear a bipartisan group is coming together that’s looking for some sort of shutdown off ramp.

“The Democrats who you saw there are trying to find a good faith way to move forward, get the ACA tax credits that we want, and also some of the appropriations that they are asking for,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, who was part of the group, told reporters. 

One of the possibilities being floated among the group include trying to pass a shorter-term government funding bill to allow some additional breathing room for negotiations on the Affordable Care Act tax credit extensions that Democrats say they want, according to sources.

Sen. Mike Rounds, who appeared to be among the key GOP negotiators in the huddle, said Republicans are trying to convince a group of Democrats that opening the government back up would create the best avenue to continue negotiations on health care. 

“We’re trying to convince them this is the right thing to do: find the path forward, get the 10 votes or more to move forward with this, and then let’s go right to work on fixing the issues that they were concerned about,” Rounds said. 

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that there’s “a lot of bipartisan hope” that the shutdown would be as “short and costless as possible” — adding that negotiations would be ongoing. 

“There are real and significant glimmers of hope that we could have a meeting of the minds,” Blumenthal said. 

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has been leading Senate Democrats in their blockade against a short term funding bill unless health care needs or met, was not in the huddle. But he seemed encouraged by it. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Wednesday that he was aware of the bipartisan huddle and that he’s also engaged in discussions with members of both sides to come up with a solution to fund the government. 

Wednesday’s votes

The first vote that failed in the Senate was, once again, a procedural vote on the Democrats’ government funding proposal that includes the health care provisions they’ve been seeking. It failed by a vote of 47-53. As was the case on Tuesday night, every Democrat voted for it and every Republican voted against it. 

The second vote in the series was a procedural vote on the clean, House-backed Republican stop-gap funding bill that failed Tuesday night. Democrats continued to hold the line during Wednesday’s vote, leading it to fail with a vote of 55-45.

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as independent Angus King, voted — as they had Tuesday — with Republicans to advance the GOP funding solution. But no additional Democrats broke ranks during the vote series. Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted no, so Republicans would have needed to pick up at least five more Democrats to advance this bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.

Thune said that Republicans are on the hunt for those few additional Democrats to support their clean, short term funding bill.

Senate leaders place blame on opposing party

In floor remarks ahead of the Wednesday votes, both leaders opened by blaming the other party.

“Here we are, Democrats have bowed to the far left and they’ve shut down the federal government,” Thune said on the floor. “As of this morning critical federal employees including members of the military, border patrol agents and air traffic controllers are working without pay and a number of government services are unavailable or at risk.”

Schumer, meanwhile, said “Donald Trump and Republicans have barreled us into a shutdown because they refuse to protect America’s health care.”

Schumer, in his speech, said Republicans won’t be able to “bully” Democrats into stepping down from their demands that health care be addressed as part of government funding. 

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Thune said Democrats “have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically, at the consequence of the cost of what’s going to happen to the American families if this government shutdown continues.”

Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats during the Wednesday morning press conference.

“Every single bit of this was entirely avoidable,” Johnson said, adding that Democrats should pass the clean CR as they did in the House.

“Democrats in Congress have dragged our country into another reckless shutdown to satisfy their far-left base,” Johnson said. “Whether or not the government remains open or reopens is entirely up to them.”

Democrats hit back during a press conference of their own Wednesday morning.

“Republicans control the Senate, the House and the White House. They need Democratic votes to fund the government, so it’s on them to talk with us,” House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar said.

On Tuesday, Schumer urged Republicans to come to the negotiating table.

“So, we want to sit down and negotiate, but the Republicans can’t do it in their partisan way, where they just say ‘It’s our way or the highway,’” Schumer reiterated at a news conference following Senate votes Tuesday night. 

Schumer rehashed the failed votes on the Senate floor — placing the blame on Republicans who “have failed to get enough votes to avoid a shutdown.” 

ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — As the first government shutdown in seven years got underway on Wednesday, tens of thousands of federal workers face the risk of missing paychecks as broader America braces for the absence of some key services.

Starting on Wednesday, 750,000 federal employees are expected to be furloughed, and essential employees will have to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The workers will be placed on leave without pay and will get paid retroactively once the shutdown is over.

“The number of furloughed employees could vary because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees,” the CBO said in a statement.

While Oct. 1 paychecks have already gone out to some 2 million U.S. military troops, they may miss their next payday on the fifteenth of this month if lawmakers can’t reach a compromise to end the shutdown.

Jaime Billert of New York, whose husband serves in the U.S. Coast Guard, told ABC News that she’s already spoken to her children about setting priorities and cutting back on expenses, including dining out.

Billert said she told her children, “Your dad’s not getting paid right now. That’s our sole source of income.”

Other federal employees deemed essential — including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, air traffic control workers and U.S. Border Patrol agents — will be required to continue working without pay.

Jon Zumkehr — a corrections officer at a federal prison in Thomson, Illinois, and president of Local 4070 of the American Federation of Government Employees — said he and his co-workers are concerned about how long the shutdown will last.

The federal government stoppage in December of 2018 lasted 35 days and cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, according to the CBO.

Meanwhile, members of Congress, whose average annual salary is around $174,000, will still collect their paychecks during the shutdown as mandated under Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution.

Other impacts of the shutdown could also affect national parks, which remain partially open but could face staff shortages during the shutdown.

In previous government shutdowns, national parks that remained open but unstaffed experienced vandalism and destruction of wildlife habitats, according to a recent letter signed by 40 former park superintendents and sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

In a statement on its website on Wednesday, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., announced that its museums, research centers and the National Zoo will use prior-year funds to remain open to the public during the shutdown at least through Oct. 6.

If the shutdown goes beyond a week, other government services could be cut off.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which assists 7 million low-income mothers and their children, is expected to run out of funding in about a week.

Some key federal agencies are expected to continue running during the shutdown, including the U.S. Postal Service.

Social Security payments are not expected to be affected by the shutdown. Federal financial aid for students is also expected to keep flowing and and student loan payments will still be due, according to the Department of Education.

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(NEW YORK) — Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City and a state assemblyman, said on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday — just days after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams left the race — he was not concerned over recent threats by President Donald Trump to withhold federal funding from New York City if he gets elected.

Trump wrote on Monday on his social media platform, “Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him?”

Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has emphasized — including on “The View” on Wednesday — that he does not identify as a communist.

“This is just one of the many threats that Donald Trump makes. Every day he wakes up, he makes another threat, a lot of the times about the city that he actually comes from,” Mamdani said.

“And what is angering to me is not what Donald Trump does, because we’ve come to expect that from him, but it’s the idea that we have to accept that as the law, the idea that we have to accept that as normal. We have to fight that because we know, not only is it an overreach from a federal administration, it’s an example of what he’s done elsewhere,” he added.

Asked about Trump’s more recent desire to use U.S. cities for military training and how he could stop him, Mamdani responded, “[Trump] wants to do a whole lot of things with this city, and we’re going to fight him every step of the way, as long as it is something that comes at the expense of this city.”

Separately, on why Democratic leaders who have have not yet endorsed him, such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Mamdani downplayed the importance of endorsements more broadly.

He praised endorsements from figures such as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, but added, “but also the fact that I wouldn’t be sitting here with you if it was endorsements that made all the difference. It was the people of the city.”

Mamdani has faced pushback over some of his comments and stances on the Israel-Hamas war and Israel more broadly, including framing Israel’s conduct in the war as a “genocide” and declining to support Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, although he has said he supports Israel’s right to exist as a state. The Israeli government has pushed back against claims it is committing genocide.

Asked by co-host Sara Haines why should voters who see that as a moral red line should trust his clarity and judgment, Mamdani said that New York City would be the main focus of his administration.

“And also, millions of New Yorkers, myself included, care deeply about what’s happening in Israel and Palestine,” he added.

“And so, to be very, very clear, of course, I condemn Hamas. Of course I’ve called October 7 [the attack on Israel by Hamas] what it was, which is a horrific war crime. And of course, my belief in a universality in international law is also the same set of beliefs that have led me to describe what’s happening in Gaza as a genocide.”

He added soon after, “I can’t stop that as the mayor of the city. I can make clear my own values, my own commitments, and it is a value and a commitment to humanity, to safety, to justice for all people, that extends to everyone, Israelis, Palestinians, and everyone else.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday — the first day of a government shutdown — once again failed to pass bills aimed at funding the government as congressional leaders continue to trade blame for the shutdown.

The Senate held two votes on funding bills that mirrored the failed votes they took on Tuesday, resulting in a government shutdown that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Both failed — resulting in the government shutdown continuing.

The first vote was, once again, a procedural vote on the Democrats’ government funding proposal that includes the health care provisions they’ve been seeking. It failed by a vote of 47-53. As was the case on Tuesday night, every Democrat voted for it and every Republican voted against it. 

The second vote in the series was a procedural vote on the clean, House-backed Republican stop-gap funding bill that failed Tuesday night. Democrats continued to hold the line during Wednesday’s vote, leading it to fail with a vote of 55-45.

Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as Independent Angus King, voted — as they had Tuesday — with Republicans to advance the GOP funding solution. But no additional Democrats broke ranks during the vote series. Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted no, so Republicans would have needed to pick up at least five more Democrats to advance this bill, which needed 60 votes to pass.

Majority Leader John Thune said that Republicans are on the hunt for those few additional Democrats to support their clean, short term funding bill.

In floor remarks ahead of the Wednesday votes, both leaders opened by blaming the other party.

“Here we are, Democrats have bowed to the far left and they’ve shut down the federal government,” Thune said on the floor. “As of this morning critical federal employees including members of the military, border patrol agents and air traffic controllers are working without pay and a number of government services are unavailable or at risk.”

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said “Donald Trump and Republicans have barreled us into a shutdown because they refuse to protect America’s health care.”

Schumer, in his speech, said Republicans won’t be able to “bully” Democrats into stepping down from their demands that health care be addressed as part of government funding. 

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Thune said Democrats “have taken the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically, at the consequence of the cost of what’s going to happen to the American families if this government shutdown continues.”

Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats during the Wednesday morning press conference.

“Every single bit of this was entirely avoidable,” Johnson said, adding that Democrats should pass the clean CR as they did in the House.

“Democrats in Congress have dragged our country into another reckless shutdown to satisfy their far-left base,” Johnson said. “Whether or not the government remains open or reopens is entirely up to them.”

Democrats hit back during a press conference of their own Wednesday morning.

“Republicans control the Senate, the House and the White House. They need Democratic votes to fund the government, so it’s on them to talk with us,” House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar said.

On Tuesday, Schumer urged Republicans to come to the negotiating table.

“So, we want to sit down and negotiate, but the Republicans can’t do it in their partisan way, where they just say ‘It’s our way or the highway,’” Schumer reiterated at a news conference following Senate votes Tuesday night. 

Schumer rehashed the failed votes on the Senate floor — placing the blame on Republicans who “have failed to get enough votes to avoid a shutdown.” 

The Senate is expected to take votes on other matters in the afternoon and then they’re expected to depart for Yom Kippur. Though things could always change if some sort of deal is struck. The Senate is not expected to hold any additional votes on government funding until Friday at the earliest, all but assuring this shutdown stretches on at least until Friday. 

ABC News’ Lauren Peller and Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

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