The Senate failed again to reopen the government for the 10th vote, as most Democrats refused to join Republicans unless greater health care funding is assured, and while military families continue to worry about their next paycheck.

The shutdown in its 16th day is the third-longest in history, tied with the 2014 closure during former President Barack Obama's administration. The longest was 35 days in 2018 and 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term.

Most Senate Democrats and Republicans remain at impasse about how to muster enough votes to end the standstill.

Members of the military received paychecks Oct. 15 after the Pentagon shifted stopgap funding, but the next checks Oct. 31 aren't assured. An Air Force reservist called the uncertainty "nerve-wracking." Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of civil servants received smaller checks Oct. 10 and expect nothing for their next payday.

A federal judge in California temporarily halted 4,000 layoffs Oct. 15 that the Trump administration had announced, as a lawsuit challenging the decision is litigated. But Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said more than 10,000 federal workers may face layoffs during the government shutdown.

"I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000," Vought said in an interview on "The Charlie Kirk Show," the podcast of the late conservative activist.

Trump administration issues warning about SNAP benefits

The U.S. Department of Agriculture warned that there will not be enough funding to pay the entirety of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November if the shutdown doesn't end.

"If the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation," reads a USSA letter to state agencies dated Oct. 10.

The letter was signed by SNAP development director Sasha Gersten-Paal and provided to USA TODAY by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

State health officials across the country, including in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Minnesota, have begun warning recipients of the possible lack of funds for November.

– Melina Khan and Mary Walrath-Hodridge

Senate rejects military funding bill amid shutdown confusion

Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked a bill that would have funded the Pentagon for a full year, thwarting an effort by Republicans to restart some federal funding as the government shutdown stretched into its 16th day.

The tally was 50-44, falling short of the 60 needed to advance the measure in the 100-member Senate. The vote was largely along party lines, with Trump's fellow Republicans voting in favor and all but three Democrats objecting.

Democrats who voted against advancing the legislation said they did not want to back spending on the military without providing funding for other programs, such as healthcare and housing, that are important to Americans.

"It’s always been unacceptable to Democrats to do the defense bill without other bills that have so many things that are important to the American people in terms of healthcare, in terms of housing, in terms of safety," Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the chamber's Democratic leader, told reporters before the vote.

– Reuters

Leavitt blasts judge who blocked shutdown layoffs

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted the federal judge who temporarily halted Trump’s layoffs during the shutdown Oct. 15.

“This is another far-left partisan judge who was smacked down by the Supreme Corut in July for ruling on this exact same thing in May,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.

U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston halted 4,000 layoffs announced Oct. 10 while a union, the American Federation of Government Employees, challenges the layoffs as unlawful.

Leavitt said it was wrong to think the president didn’t have the power to hire and fire workers in the executive branch. She noted the Supreme Court lifted the judge's block on layoffs in a similar case in July, although the litigation continues.

“We are 100% confident we will win this on the merits of the law,” Leavitt said

--Bart Jansen

Military families worry about missing paychecks

In the coastal Hampton Roads area of Virginia, where the Navy is a huge presence, active-duty members of the miliary grappled with difficult financial decisions and wondered how they would make ends meet if the shutdown continues.

"You're literally counting down the minutes," said Shalynn Pugh, 33, whose spouse is in the Navy. "You're checking the news, you're checking posts, you're checking to see if anybody has any kind of update as to whether or not there's actually going to be a paycheck waiting for us."

On the morning of Oct. 15, some active duty military members told USA TODAY their checks had come through. Others said they were still confused about the status of their pay.

"It's nerve-racking," said Angela Sales, an Air Force reservist.

--Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Jeffries seeks ‘ironclad’ resolution to health care crisis to reopen government

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC that Democrats need “an ironclad” assurance that Republicans will help fix the “health care crisis” before agreeing to reopen the government.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, had told the network Oct. 15 that he would assure Democrats of a vote to extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. But Thune couldn’t guarantee the outcome would be successful.

Jeffries of New York said Republicans have voted 70 times to repeal Obamacare since it was created in 2010.

“What I'm saying is that we need an ironclad path forward that decisively addresses the Republican health care crisis,” Jeffries said. “They can't be trusted on a wing and a prayer.”

--Bart Jansen

Funding vote fails for the 10th time

The Senate once again shot down a measure to reopen the government Thursday. The vote count was 51-45, with the same small group of Democrats and one independent voting yes, with one Republican voting no (Senate Majority Leader John Thune also voted no, but simply as a procedural mechanism to reconsider the bill). A few senators also didn’t vote.

--Zachary Schemerle

Senate starts funding bill vote

Senators began voting just before noon on a weekslong funding extension that would reopen the government. It’s unlikely to pass. It’s less clear what votes will look like to proceed with a separate defense spending bill senators will take up later in the day.

In the hallways of the Capitol on Thursday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said she would vote yes, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said she would vote no — a good indication of an emerging split between progressives and moderate Democrats on whether to try and fund at least some parts of the government during the shutdown.-Zachary Schermele

Defense bill up for a vote, too

Though the weekslong funding extension isn't expected to pass, there's less certainty around how senators will vote on advancing a full-year defense appropriations bill.

If that measure ultimately passes, it would ease shutdown uncertainty on military families. While some moderate Senate Democrats have indicated they support moving forward with the defense bill, it's not clear whether it will get the required 60 votes in the Senate.

-Zachary Schermele

Thune guarantees Democrats Obamacare vote

Republicans have privately guaranteed Democrats a vote on potentially extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies at the center of the shutdown fight, according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota.

Thune, a key figure in the funding crisis, said on MSNBC Thursday that while he couldn't promise Democrats that such a measure would pass, he could assure them a vote would happen.

“We can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain,” he said.

The deal would only work, though, if Democrats first vote to reopen the government, he said.

-Zachary Schermele

10th time's the charm?

Senators will vote, again, around 11 a.m. on a short-term funding measure mostly backed by Republicans. With little new movement in either party's position, the vote to move forward with the bill is likely to fail (for the 10th time).

-Zachary Schermele

Judge blocks mass layoffs

Vought’s comments came just as a federal judge on Oct. 15 temporarily blocked the Trump administration's mass layoff plans.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that the reduction-in-force notices sent to more than 4,000 employees on Oct. 10 were “both illegal and in excess of authority,” and granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting most agencies from proceeding with the layoffs.

She said Trump and his top aides have made several comments showing explicit political motivations for the layoffs, such as Trump saying that cuts would target "Democrat agencies."

"You can't do that in a nation of laws. And we have laws here, and the things that are being articulated here are not within the law," said Illston.

A list of cuts by Friday?

Trump said on Oct. 14 at the White House that his administration planned to produce a list on Friday of "Democrat programs" that will be closed if the government remained closed.

He did not specify the programs but indicated that the closures would be permanent, saying some were “never going to open up again.”

More than 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed, which stops them from reporting to work. Employees deemed essential to public safety, including military personnel, law enforcement officers, border patrol and air traffic controllers are required to report for duty without pay.

Trump on Oct. 15 signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to make sure that active-duty military personnel are paid, regardless of the shutdown.

The executive order directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "to use for the purpose of pay and allowances any funds appropriated by the Congress that remain available for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2026 to accomplish the scheduled disbursement of military pay and allowances for active duty military personnel."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown latest; Senate rejects funding deal, military push

Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Zachary Schermele and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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