With the government shutdown in its second day on Thursday and no end in sight, Senate Majority Leader John Thune continued to bash Democrats saying they are “playing a losing game” when it comes to the stalemate.
“I realize that my Democrat colleagues are facing pressure from members of their far-left base, but they are playing a losing game here,” Thune said on the Senate floor Thursday.
The Senate will not hold votes on Thursday — and while the Senate floor is open, the chamber is not voting because of Yom Kippur. The next votes are scheduled for Friday.
Thune said it is “unlikely” that the Senate will take weekend votes if a Friday vote on government funding fails.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Republican from Louisiana, speaks during a news conference outside of his office at the US Capitol on the second day of the US government shutdown in Washington, October 2, 2025.
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“They’ll have a fourth chance tomorrow to vote to reopen the government,” Thune said of Democrats. “If that fails, then we’ll give them the weekend to think about it, we’ll come back and vote on Monday.”
Thune is leading to the charge to peel off wavering Democrats to support the GOP’s House-backed seven-week stopgap funding measure that would allow the government to operate.
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.
The American flag over the Capitol is illuminated by the early morning light on the first day of a government shutdown, in Washington, Oct. 1, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
“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.
Thune said Thursday that he will “see where it goes” when asked about negotiations with Democrats.
“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,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters outside of his office at the US Capitol, on the second day of the US government shutdown in Washington, October 2, 2025.
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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.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to the media at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2025.
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On Thursday afternoon, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Republicans are responsible for the shutdown, saying Democrats are willing to sit down to negotiate to “find a path forward to fund the government.”
He said Republicans have shown “zero interest” in meeting to hash things out, adding that neither he nor Schumer have received a phone call about negotiations.
Earlier Thursday, 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.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks to reporters at the Capitol, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
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.
Leavitt told reporters at the White House Thursday morning that the threat of mass firings and ending federal programs is “very real” and there will likely be “thousands” of federal workers laid off during the government shutdown.
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.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to the media at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2025.
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“We’re going to look at agencies that don’t align … with the administration’s values that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollar,” Leavitt said Thursday morning.
Trump 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.”
“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.
ABC News’ Karen Travers and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
