It’s a short work week in Washington, DC, given the Monday federal holiday, and the week is shaping up to be short on progress as well. The government has been shut down for 13 days, and both sides continue to dig in their heels. On Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared this week a district work period, signaling that while he maintains the prerogative to call the House back with 48 hours’ notice, he does not intend to do so. House Democrats will be back in Washington, DC, on Tuesday and have internal meetings and public events planned this week. The Senate will also return on Tuesday. With no scheduled hearings or floor action as of the time of this publication, all attention will remain on the shutdown.
The Trump administration took actions over the weekend that changed the trajectory of the shutdown and likely extended it beyond this week. Late Friday afternoon, multiple federal agencies, including the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued reduction in force (RIF) notices to thousands of federal employees. It isn’t clear yet exactly how many employees or departments were affected, but some HHS RIFs were later reversed. It remains to be seen how the RIFs might influence shutdown negotiations, with Democrats using the RIFs as leverage to continue blaming Republicans for the shutdown and any negative outcomes.
On Saturday, the Trump administration addressed the one sticking point that could have put an end to the shutdown this week: the October 15, 2025, federal troop paycheck. The US Department of Defense will pay troops using another funding source to ensure they don’t miss a paycheck. With that addressed, both sides can continue pointing fingers and extend the shutdown even further.
In this week’s Healthcare Preview, Debbie Curtis and Rodney Whitlock join Julia Grabo to discuss the current state of the government shutdown.
