With the closure of the government on its second day on Thursday and endlessly, the leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, continued attacking the Democrats saying that they are “playing a loser game” when it comes to the dead point.
“I realize that my Democratic colleagues face pressure from the members of their extreme left base, but they are playing a losing game here,” Thune said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
The Senate will not have votes on Thursday, and although the floor of the Senate is open, the camera does not vote due to Yom Kippur. The next votes are scheduled for Friday.
Thune said it is “unlikely” that the Senate takes weekend votes if a Friday vote on government financing fails.
The president of the Mike Johnson Chamber Chamber, a Louisiana Republican, speaks during a press conference outside his office at the United States Capitol on the second day of the United States government closure in Washington, on October 2, 2025.
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“Tomorrow they will have a fourth opportunity to vote to reopen the government,” Thune said about the Democrats. “If that fails, then we will give you the weekend to think about it, we will return and vote on Monday.”
Thune is taking office to take off the Democrats to support the Stopgap financing measure backed by the House of the Republican Party that would allow the Government to operate.
Thune said he believes that base Democrats will eventually break with the minority leader Chuck Schumer to approve a short -term financing bill to reopen the government.
The American flag on the Capitol is illuminated by the morning light on the first day of a government closure, in Washington, on October 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
“I think there are many basic democrats who regret letting Schumer enclose them in this rat hole,” Thune said in a Fox News “Hannity” on Wednesday night.
Thune said Thursday that “he will see where he is going” when asked about negotiations with the Democrats.
“Until they have eight or luck more, 10 or more people, who want to decide that they want to end the closure of the government, I am not sure that this goes anywhere,” he said.
The leader of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, speaks with journalists outside his office in the Capitol of the United States, the second day of the closing of the United States government in Washington, on October 2, 2025.
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The Democrats hung together on Wednesday afternoon to block, for the third time, a Stopgap financing bill offered by Republicans. Democrats insist that any solution addresses their demands on medical care before voting to move forward.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told the White House journalists that Trump’s administration, including President Donald Trump, continues to speak with Capitol Hill legislators with the aim of “encouraging democrats” to accept and support the short -term republican party.
The president of the Mike Johnson Chamber joined the left by Senator John Barraso, the Senate Republican whip, arrives for an event with the main Republicans at the closure of the Government, in the Capitol in Washington, on October 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
“The president, vice president, the entire team will continue to work and talking with members of the hill to try to reach a resolution to try to encourage Democrats to gather courage to do the right thing,” Leavitt said.
In Fox News on Thursday morning, Leavitt said that these discussions were specifically happening with “moderate Democrats and also with the Republicans of the Allied Senate who have good relations with these moderate.”
Even so, Finger’s note continues while Democrats and Republicans change by closing.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, talks to the media at the White House in Washington, on October 2, 2025.
Bonnie Cash/EPA/Shuttersock
On Thursday afternoon, the leader of the minority of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, said the Republicans are responsible for the closure, saying that the Democrats are willing to sit down to negotiate to “find a way to finance the government.”
He said that Republicans have shown “zero interest” in meeting with Hash’s things, and added that neither he nor Schumer have received a phone call about negotiations.
On Thursday morning, President Mike Johnson criticized the Democrats and Schumer for the ongoing closure, calling for his “selfish” and “rebuke” position.
“I have nothing to negotiate,” said Johnson, after saying that the Chamber sent a continuous resolution clean to the Senate that finances the government for seven weeks.
The senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, talks to journalists at Capitol, on October 1, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Democrats are hitting Schumer saying In a publication on social networks that “Republicans close the government because they cannot bother to protect medical care for Americans in this country.”
The fault also extends online. In addition to public statements on federal websites that blame the “radical left” for the closure of the government, the Office of Management and Budget encouraged federal employees to create email messages outside the office that denounce the “Democratic senators” for causing the closure of the government, sources told ABC News.
Trump said he has a scheduled meeting for the director of OMB, Russ Vought on Thursday to determine which agencies “recommend” being cut, either temporarily or permanently.
Last week, the Trump administration threatened the mass layoffs of some federal workers during closing. Vought warned the Republicans of the House of Representatives on Wednesday that the Administration will begin to fire federal workers in the next “day or two,” multiple sources told ABC News.
Leavitt told White House journalists on Thursday morning that The threat of mass shooting and final federal programs is “very real” And there will probably be “thousands” of federal workers dismissed During the closure of the government.
It was not yet clear what departments and agencies could be affected for the first time, although the Trump administration has said that it would seek projects in democratic states, including the suspension of $ 18 billion in infrastructure funds for New York City and canceling $ 8 billion for energy projects in 16 states that voted with the Democrats in the last presidential elections.
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, talks to the media at the White House in Washington, on October 2, 2025.
Will Oliver/EPA/Shuttersock
“We are going to see the agencies that do not align … with the values of the administration that we believe are a waste of the taxpayer’s dollar,” Leavitt said Thursday morning.
Trump wrote on social networks on Wednesday night that he wants Republicans to use closure as an “opportunity” to save billions of dollars when cleaning “dead Wood, waste and fraud. “
“I cannot believe that the Democrats on the radical left have given me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump said in a publication on Thursday’s social networks about cuts during closing.
Karen Travers of ABC News and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
