October 17, 2025 • 11 mins
GOV'T SHUTDOWN UPDATE - A government shutdown update as negotiations continue in Washington, with new signs of potential compromise. Senior Writer for The Dispatch David Drucker breaks down the latest developments and outlines the possible off-ramps lawmakers could take to bring the shutdown to an end.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Senate yet again voted down a spending measure that
would have ended the government shutdown. It's the tenth time
lawmakers have attempted to pass the Republican back continuing resolution.
The Senate also held a procedural vote on a measurement
to fund the Department of War, but Democrats blocked that
from passing. Two and that's it for the Senate until Monday.
The House has been out of session, Senate not returning
(00:21):
until Monday afternoons of the shutdown can to definitely extend
into a fourth week. I did think there were a
couple of notable developments over the past twenty four hours.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune apparently floated the idea of
offering a guarantee to Democrats that he would hold a
vote on the Obamacare subsidies and extending them, not that
(00:42):
the bill would pass, but that he would hold a vote.
Democrats basically responded by saying it's not enough. They want
an extension of the subsidies before reopening the government. There
were also reports of a deal in the works to
do two separate votes, one to reopen the government and
another two extend the subsidies for a year. Keep an
(01:03):
eye on that. I'm wondering if that's kind of where
this is headed. That's what I've been saying for a
couple of days now that you know, some kind of
short term extension that kind of punts that issue to
after next year's election. And then we learned the Senate
is going to vote on legislation next week to pay
some federal government employees, including active duty members of the military.
(01:25):
That's going to be a standalone bill. We've been hearing
about that idea. Mike Johnson, the House Speaker's been against it,
but it sounds like that's going to move forward in
the Senate. So a little bit of movement, even if
it seems like nothing's really happening, you look for these
little signs that you know, maybe something could be coming together.
I don't think the deal's coming together anytime soon, but
the pressure is only going to keep ramping up for
(01:47):
both sides to figure something out. And look at this point,
like I get the position from Republicans and this is
a Democratic shutdown. The Democrats, they decided to shut down
the government. It's on them. But I and I get
Republicans saying, look, we passed a clean continuing Resolution. We
didn't put any of our priorities or anything into it,
(02:08):
just keeping the government funding as it is until November
twenty first. That's what should pass, or nothing at all.
But at some point you got to figure out a
way to end this. You're gonna have to count and
the issue of the Obamacare subsidies, that was something they
were going to have to deal with eventually anyway, one
(02:29):
way or another. It's going to impact a lot of
their constituents and districts. So just like, kind of figure
it out now and hurry the hell up, because I
almost feel like Democrats want to set the record to
the thirty five day record. Probably do, Yeah, So I
do think it's going to continue for a bit longer.
And they clearly didn't want to do anything before the
(02:51):
protests this weekend, the No King's Day. I think they
wanted to use this as a way to have it
all riled up, yeah, to gin up support for that. Now,
let's bring in seeing your writer for The Dispatch, David Drucker.
You can find all of his work at The Dispatch
dot com. You can also follow him on x for
more at David M. Drucker. David, It's great to talk
to you this morning. Government shutdown about to enter its
(03:12):
fourth week. Democrats seem pretty dug in. Trump seems pretty
dug in. Felt like there were maybe a few small
cracks among congressional Republicans, but not enough to really move
the needle. What's your take on where things stand right now?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I think that's about right. I don't think anybody
is really interested in ending the government shutdown. I don't
think voters are put in a lot of pressure on
lawmakers to end the government shutdown, and so I think
the government shutdown will continue.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You have a piece in Bloomberg where you break down
how you don't think this fight is really a disagreement
about the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, that it's really something else
that's going on here. Explain that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, listen, I I it's not that there's nothing disagreements
over the subsidies, how they should be structured, you know,
who should be eligible for them, and things of that nature.
It's just that even though Democrats use this issue to
force the shutdown and to say you can have our
votes to reopen the government if you extend these subsidies,
(04:17):
which are due to expire, millions of Americans are going
to have higher health care bills if that health insurance bills.
If that's the case, what this has really turned into,
as all government shutdowns turn into, is a.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Power struggle, right.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I think Republicans are open to extending the obolacer subsidies
for no other reason then so many of their own
constituents rely on them. But they don't want to bend
the knee to the Democrats, or appear to be bending
the knee to the Democrats who basically are powerless in
Washington except for the Senate filibuster right, and Democrats, you know,
(04:54):
for their part, want to keep prosecute this government shutdown
because their own basis demanding that they fight Trump one
way or the other. So if they got what they
wanted short and then they could show that they fought
Trump and achieved something. But for Republicans, they do not
(05:14):
want to reward a democratic of the democratic power play
by giving them what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And it's in a sense no different.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Ryan. And when we years ago talked about the Obamacare
shutdown indicated by House and Senate Republicans. Eventually, as it
became clear that President Obama was not going to give
up his signature generational legislative achievement. Republicans just started talking
amongst themselves about, well, what are we going to do
so we don't look like idiots. We got to get
(05:44):
something so we can say that this is not for nothing.
I remember at one point they pivoted to debt zealing
negotiations because there was also a debt cealing extension that
was required after the shutdowns had occurred. You know, it
was some weeks off, but it was approach. And then
they started talking to the president. Okay, well, let's negotiate
over the debt ceiling and once we get you know,
(06:04):
a compromise on that, then we'll reopen the government, give
you the votes and the like. I'm not rewarding these
tactics by negotiating on anything. And so you know, that's
just how that went, and that's how this is going.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Where do you think there could be a possible off ramp?
And we're joined by senior writer for the Dispatch, David Drucker.
You've got Senate Majority Leader floating the idea of a
guarantee to Democrats that he'll hold a vote on the subsidies.
Democrats saying that's not enough. You do see some things
(06:38):
like behind the scenes where maybe they'll do two votes,
want to reopen the government, another to extend the subsidies
for a year. But then you've got Trump at the
center of all of this, and you just never know
what he's going to want to end up doing well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And then you also have to send it back to
the House, right so you know they're going to have
something to say, even though it's the House Republicans that
passed a bill to keep the govern and open, which
is why they're not you know, well, it's among the
reasons they don't feel pressure to meet right now. It's
not the only reason. But look, I think that's a
possible off ramp, you know, I think that you know,
usually these off ramps are not really off ramps. They're
(07:15):
just you know, one party finally gives up the dream
and carves a path through the brush.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And says look offering.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You know, as Democrats will point out, Trump is not
very trustworthy when it comes to deal making in Congress.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
He's just not.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
He changes his mind all the time. So any deal
they make with Trump, there's a good chance he's not
going to keep it. He has, you know, ignored Congressional
spending directives. I mean, he's basically assumed the power.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Of the purse.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Congress is pretty irrelevant at this point when it comes
to that which it makes this government fun said, that's
kind of funny because the president's decided in this case, well,
I guess I can't spend money if Congress doesn't approve it. Meanwhile,
he's been busy not sending money that Congress has appropriated.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Secs fit.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
But it's one of the reasons why Democrats are very
leery of any deal. And the way this probably ends
is that it just gets so untenable or they look
at the compete election timeline and you know, they want
to shift. Democrats want to be able to you know,
shift the attention to the Republicans that they say, all right,
we fought this race good and hard, this battle good
(08:20):
and hard. We brought everybody's attention to this. Uh, you know,
we'll pocket whatever vote or agreement to hold a negotiation
that we can get. Some of our base will be angry,
but everybody's going to know who wanted these extensions and
who didn't, and they just kind of say, that's our offering.
You know, it doesn't work. I don't know but you know,
the American public's attention span tends to move on to
(08:44):
the next thing. Right In twenty thirteen, Republican approval ratings
like from the party, we're like twenty five percent historic lows.
The shutdown ends, and next year the Republicans picked up
nine sentences and the state majority had a really good
midterm election. So you know, that's some sort of pave
that isn't you know, it doesn't call probably doesn't cause
(09:04):
long lasting political damage is probably where we're headed.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
It's just how long does this have to go on?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And because voters aren't putting any pressure on lawmakers, and
because everybody has their own reason for continuing this. I mean,
I'm not making a prediction, but my speculation is that
this could last into next year.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Really interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You know, tell me why they're going to end it?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, no, I think you know, Annapoline and a Luna
congressman from right here in Florida, she thought that it
could go past Thanksgiving. The only thing that that I
thought when I heard that was, you know, you have
air traffic controllers and TS agents calling out the week
of Thanksgiving, the busiest travel week of the year. You
have images of the families of service members at food banks, uh,
(09:51):
you know, for Thanksgiving dinner at like I think then
you could see some serious outrage on the part of
the public.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But well, in in that case, then we might have
some movement.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Of course, Trump could always decide to find the money
and play the hero, right. He certainly doesn't really care
about what Congress says or does.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Most of the time. He has ignored civil service law.
By the way, it's not about look.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Whether you approve or disapprove of what he's doing or think.
You know, you know, somebody needs to break things and
all that. I get it, But you know, there are
congressional spending directives. There are government employees protected by statutory
civil service law, meaning the president, even if he controls
the executive branch, doesn't have the legal authority to fire workers.
He's fired them anyway. There has been money approved and
(10:40):
directed by Congress. You shall you should spend it. You
need to spend this money on this, And he just said, no,
I'm going to impound it. I'm not going to do it.
He's found you know, he at least has claimed loopholes
in the law. He doesn't listen to Congress. Congress is
not fighting him as an institution, and so honestly the
fact that they're not doing anything means that nothing much
(11:03):
is different today than it was before the shutdown, you know,
unless you want to pump point to the one big
beautiful bill AFT was you know, was a big legislative
list and wasn't.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
A lot of legislating. Other than that, they're.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Not doing anything that shows congressional authority as a check
or balance or anything to the executive branch.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
And I just can see Trump.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Finding piles of money here and there, playing the role
of hero the same Thanksgiving and Christmas for everybody, and
the shutdown continues.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Senior writer for The Dispatch, David Drucker. You can find
all of his work at the Dispatch dot com and
you can follow him on exper more at David M.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Drucker.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
David, always great to talk to you, Thanks so much
for coming back on any con Thank you. A Ryan
Gorman Show five to nine every weekday morning on news
Radio two UFLA
The Senate yet again voted down a spending measure that
would have ended the government shutdown. It's the tenth time
lawmakers have attempted to pass the Republican back continuing resolution.
The Senate also held a procedural vote on a measurement
to fund the Department of War, but Democrats blocked that
from passing. Two and that's it for the Senate until Monday.
The House has been out of session, Senate not returning
(00:21):
until Monday afternoons of the shutdown can to definitely extend
into a fourth week. I did think there were a
couple of notable developments over the past twenty four hours.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune apparently floated the idea of
offering a guarantee to Democrats that he would hold a
vote on the Obamacare subsidies and extending them, not that
(00:42):
the bill would pass, but that he would hold a vote.
Democrats basically responded by saying it's not enough. They want
an extension of the subsidies before reopening the government. There
were also reports of a deal in the works to
do two separate votes, one to reopen the government and
another two extend the subsidies for a year. Keep an
(01:03):
eye on that. I'm wondering if that's kind of where
this is headed. That's what I've been saying for a
couple of days now that you know, some kind of
short term extension that kind of punts that issue to
after next year's election. And then we learned the Senate
is going to vote on legislation next week to pay
some federal government employees, including active duty members of the military.
(01:25):
That's going to be a standalone bill. We've been hearing
about that idea. Mike Johnson, the House Speaker's been against it,
but it sounds like that's going to move forward in
the Senate. So a little bit of movement, even if
it seems like nothing's really happening, you look for these
little signs that you know, maybe something could be coming together.
I don't think the deal's coming together anytime soon, but
the pressure is only going to keep ramping up for
(01:47):
both sides to figure something out. And look at this point,
like I get the position from Republicans and this is
a Democratic shutdown. The Democrats, they decided to shut down
the government. It's on them. But I and I get
Republicans saying, look, we passed a clean continuing Resolution. We
didn't put any of our priorities or anything into it,
(02:08):
just keeping the government funding as it is until November
twenty first. That's what should pass, or nothing at all.
But at some point you got to figure out a
way to end this. You're gonna have to count and
the issue of the Obamacare subsidies, that was something they
were going to have to deal with eventually anyway, one
(02:29):
way or another. It's going to impact a lot of
their constituents and districts. So just like, kind of figure
it out now and hurry the hell up, because I
almost feel like Democrats want to set the record to
the thirty five day record. Probably do, Yeah, So I
do think it's going to continue for a bit longer.
And they clearly didn't want to do anything before the
(02:51):
protests this weekend, the No King's Day. I think they
wanted to use this as a way to have it
all riled up, yeah, to gin up support for that. Now,
let's bring in seeing your writer for The Dispatch, David Drucker.
You can find all of his work at The Dispatch
dot com. You can also follow him on x for
more at David M. Drucker. David, It's great to talk
to you this morning. Government shutdown about to enter its
(03:12):
fourth week. Democrats seem pretty dug in. Trump seems pretty
dug in. Felt like there were maybe a few small
cracks among congressional Republicans, but not enough to really move
the needle. What's your take on where things stand right now?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Yeah, I think that's about right. I don't think anybody
is really interested in ending the government shutdown. I don't
think voters are put in a lot of pressure on
lawmakers to end the government shutdown, and so I think
the government shutdown will continue.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
You have a piece in Bloomberg where you break down
how you don't think this fight is really a disagreement
about the enhanced Obamacare subsidies, that it's really something else
that's going on here. Explain that.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, listen, I I it's not that there's nothing disagreements
over the subsidies, how they should be structured, you know,
who should be eligible for them, and things of that nature.
It's just that even though Democrats use this issue to
force the shutdown and to say you can have our
votes to reopen the government if you extend these subsidies,
(04:17):
which are due to expire, millions of Americans are going
to have higher health care bills if that health insurance bills.
If that's the case, what this has really turned into,
as all government shutdowns turn into, is a.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Power struggle, right.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I think Republicans are open to extending the obolacer subsidies
for no other reason then so many of their own
constituents rely on them. But they don't want to bend
the knee to the Democrats, or appear to be bending
the knee to the Democrats who basically are powerless in
Washington except for the Senate filibuster right, and Democrats, you know,
(04:54):
for their part, want to keep prosecute this government shutdown
because their own basis demanding that they fight Trump one
way or the other. So if they got what they
wanted short and then they could show that they fought
Trump and achieved something. But for Republicans, they do not
(05:14):
want to reward a democratic of the democratic power play
by giving them what they wanted.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And it's in a sense no different.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Ryan. And when we years ago talked about the Obamacare
shutdown indicated by House and Senate Republicans. Eventually, as it
became clear that President Obama was not going to give
up his signature generational legislative achievement. Republicans just started talking
amongst themselves about, well, what are we going to do
so we don't look like idiots. We got to get
(05:44):
something so we can say that this is not for nothing.
I remember at one point they pivoted to debt zealing
negotiations because there was also a debt cealing extension that
was required after the shutdowns had occurred. You know, it
was some weeks off, but it was approach. And then
they started talking to the president. Okay, well, let's negotiate
over the debt ceiling and once we get you know,
(06:04):
a compromise on that, then we'll reopen the government, give
you the votes and the like. I'm not rewarding these
tactics by negotiating on anything. And so you know, that's
just how that went, and that's how this is going.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Where do you think there could be a possible off ramp?
And we're joined by senior writer for the Dispatch, David Drucker.
You've got Senate Majority Leader floating the idea of a
guarantee to Democrats that he'll hold a vote on the subsidies.
Democrats saying that's not enough. You do see some things
(06:38):
like behind the scenes where maybe they'll do two votes,
want to reopen the government, another to extend the subsidies
for a year. But then you've got Trump at the
center of all of this, and you just never know
what he's going to want to end up doing well.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
And then you also have to send it back to
the House, right so you know they're going to have
something to say, even though it's the House Republicans that
passed a bill to keep the govern and open, which
is why they're not you know, well, it's among the
reasons they don't feel pressure to meet right now. It's
not the only reason. But look, I think that's a
possible off ramp, you know, I think that you know,
usually these off ramps are not really off ramps. They're
(07:15):
just you know, one party finally gives up the dream
and carves a path through the brush.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
And says look offering.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You know, as Democrats will point out, Trump is not
very trustworthy when it comes to deal making in Congress.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
He's just not.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
He changes his mind all the time. So any deal
they make with Trump, there's a good chance he's not
going to keep it. He has, you know, ignored Congressional
spending directives. I mean, he's basically assumed the power.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Of the purse.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Congress is pretty irrelevant at this point when it comes
to that which it makes this government fun said, that's
kind of funny because the president's decided in this case, well,
I guess I can't spend money if Congress doesn't approve it. Meanwhile,
he's been busy not sending money that Congress has appropriated.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Secs fit.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
But it's one of the reasons why Democrats are very
leery of any deal. And the way this probably ends
is that it just gets so untenable or they look
at the compete election timeline and you know, they want
to shift. Democrats want to be able to you know,
shift the attention to the Republicans that they say, all right,
we fought this race good and hard, this battle good
(08:20):
and hard. We brought everybody's attention to this. Uh, you know,
we'll pocket whatever vote or agreement to hold a negotiation
that we can get. Some of our base will be angry,
but everybody's going to know who wanted these extensions and
who didn't, and they just kind of say, that's our offering.
You know, it doesn't work. I don't know but you know,
the American public's attention span tends to move on to
(08:44):
the next thing. Right In twenty thirteen, Republican approval ratings
like from the party, we're like twenty five percent historic lows.
The shutdown ends, and next year the Republicans picked up
nine sentences and the state majority had a really good
midterm election. So you know, that's some sort of pave
that isn't you know, it doesn't call probably doesn't cause
(09:04):
long lasting political damage is probably where we're headed.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
It's just how long does this have to go on?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
And because voters aren't putting any pressure on lawmakers, and
because everybody has their own reason for continuing this. I mean,
I'm not making a prediction, but my speculation is that
this could last into next year.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Really interesting.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
You know, tell me why they're going to end it?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Yeah, no, I think you know, Annapoline and a Luna
congressman from right here in Florida, she thought that it
could go past Thanksgiving. The only thing that that I
thought when I heard that was, you know, you have
air traffic controllers and TS agents calling out the week
of Thanksgiving, the busiest travel week of the year. You
have images of the families of service members at food banks, uh,
(09:51):
you know, for Thanksgiving dinner at like I think then
you could see some serious outrage on the part of
the public.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
But well, in in that case, then we might have
some movement.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Of course, Trump could always decide to find the money
and play the hero, right. He certainly doesn't really care
about what Congress says or does.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Most of the time. He has ignored civil service law.
By the way, it's not about look.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Whether you approve or disapprove of what he's doing or think.
You know, you know, somebody needs to break things and
all that. I get it, But you know, there are
congressional spending directives. There are government employees protected by statutory
civil service law, meaning the president, even if he controls
the executive branch, doesn't have the legal authority to fire workers.
He's fired them anyway. There has been money approved and
(10:40):
directed by Congress. You shall you should spend it. You
need to spend this money on this, And he just said, no,
I'm going to impound it. I'm not going to do it.
He's found you know, he at least has claimed loopholes
in the law. He doesn't listen to Congress. Congress is
not fighting him as an institution, and so honestly the
fact that they're not doing anything means that nothing much
(11:03):
is different today than it was before the shutdown, you know,
unless you want to pump point to the one big
beautiful bill AFT was you know, was a big legislative
list and wasn't.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
A lot of legislating. Other than that, they're.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Not doing anything that shows congressional authority as a check
or balance or anything to the executive branch.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
And I just can see Trump.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Finding piles of money here and there, playing the role
of hero the same Thanksgiving and Christmas for everybody, and
the shutdown continues.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Senior writer for The Dispatch, David Drucker. You can find
all of his work at the Dispatch dot com and
you can follow him on exper more at David M.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Drucker.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
David, always great to talk to you, Thanks so much
for coming back on any con Thank you. A Ryan
Gorman Show five to nine every weekday morning on news
Radio two UFLA
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.