What to know on Day 16 of the government shutdown:
- The Senate is expected to vote for a 10th time late Thursday morning on a House-passed bill to reopen the government as Democrats and Republicans remain dug in on Day 16 of the shutdown. The measure failed to win the 60 votes needed to advance on Tuesday and Wednesday, gaining no new support. Republicans have been working to peel off support from across the aisle, while Democrats have demanded an extension of health insurance tax credits to reopen the government.
- Senate GOP leaders are also trying a new approach to restart some funding, voting Thursday afternoon on advancing a full year-long appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans hope to attach other funding bills to the measure, but whether Democrats will back this effort remains to be seen.
- FBI Director Kash Patel said Wednesday that FBI agents would also be paid during the shutdown. And members of the military were set to be paid after the Trump administration tapped unused research and development funds to cover their checks. But House Speaker Mike Johnson warned that the move was a "temporary fix," and that troops risked missing their next paychecks at the end of the month if the shutdown continues.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference with other members of Senate Republican leadership following a policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Oct. 15, 2025.
Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
What's on the Senate's schedule today
The Senate will convene at 10 a.m. At 11 a.m., senators will take a procedural vote on the House-passed continuing resolution to fund the government until Nov. 21, along with another procedural vote on a judicial nomination, according to Majority Whip John Barrasso's office.
Then at 1:30 p.m., the Senate will take a procedural vote on the full-year Defense Department funding measure.
Senate set to vote on advancing year-long Pentagon funding bill
The Senate is set to vote today on advancing an individual year-long appropriations bill to fund the Pentagon in a change in approach as the shutdown wears on.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune teed up consideration of the full-year Defense Department appropriations bill earlier this week, and the upper chamber is expected to take a procedural vote on advancing the measure Thursday afternoon.
Read more here.
Senate expected to vote for 10th time on House-passed measure to fund the government
The Senate is expected to vote late this morning on the measure passed by the House to fund the government until Nov. 21, after the measure fell short for a ninth time Wednesday afternoon.
Republicans have been hoping to pick up new support from Democrats on the measure, but the bill has failed to win any new votes from the minority since before the shutdown began. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate, but because most legislation requires 60 votes to advance in the upper chamber, Republicans need support from Democrats to reopen the government.
But today Senate GOP leaders will also try a different approach to restart some funding with a vote Thursday afternoon on advancing a full-year defense appropriations bill. That vote will also require 60 votes, and whether Democrats will support it remains to be seen.
Thune says he's told Democrats he can guarantee a vote on health insurance tax credits — but not an outcome
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview on MSNBC that aired Thursday morning that he's told Democrats "if you need a vote, we can guarantee you get a vote by a date certain" on their health insurance demands.
The South Dakota Republican added that "at some point, Democrats have to take 'yes' for an answer."
Democrats have made an extension of health insurance tax credits a key condition for their support to reopen the government. But many of them have indicated that assurances from Republicans aren't enough.
Nonetheless, Thune thinks "there's a path forward." He also said that the health insurance tax credits must "include reforms," and he said he couldn't guarantee an outcome on a vote.
"I can't guarantee it's going to pass," he said. "I can guarantee you that there will be a process and you will get a vote."
Asked whether the government shutdown could last through Thanksgiving, Thune told MSNBC, "I hope it doesn't." The House-passed bill, he said, is "the quickest way to end this."
FBI agents will get paid despite government shutdown, Patel says
The Trump administration will continue paying FBI agents despite the ongoing government shutdown that has frozen paychecks for nearly all federal workers, FBI Director Kash Patel announced Wednesday.
"You've found a way to get these individuals paid during a government shutdown," Patel said to President Trump during an unrelated Oval Office event. "On behalf of the FBI, it's a great debt that we owe you."
Patel did not specify the source of the funds that would be used to pay the agents.
Read more here.
