Trump hosts Senate Republicans as the shutdown drags into fourth week

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump Tuesday welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club and breaking ground on the new White House ballroom. The GOP is projecting a unified front as Democratic refuse to vote to reopen the government.

It was a festive atmosphere under crisp but sunny autumn skies as Trump’s favored songs — “YMCA” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — played over the new sound system.

“The whole White House is being redone,” Trump said in opening remarks, extolling the renovations underway as senators took their seats in the newly-paved over garden-turned patio.

Trump praised the GOP leadership, singling out senators by name, trashed former President Joe Biden and previewed his own upcoming foreign travel and tariff policies, which he told GOP senators are fueling the economy.

“We’re a wealthy nation again,” he said.

As the government shutdown enters its fourth week — on track to become among the longest in U.S. history — the country is feeling the financial hit. Economists have warned the federal closure, leaving most the 2.4 million-strong federal workforce without pay, will shave economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.

There are few signs of any end to the stalemate. Republicans say the Democrats are holding the government hostage, beholden to far-left demands to provide billions of dollars in health care subsidies which were put in place during COVID.

“Republicans are united, and I expect the president to say, ‘Stand strong,’” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, second in Senate GOP leadership, said early Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends.”

But Senate Democrats, emboldened after last weekend’s mass “No Kings” rallies against Trump’s leadership, are confident in their strategy. They have voted more than 10 times against a House-passed bill that would temporarily reopen the government.

Missed paychecks and programs running out of money

While Capitol Hill remains at a standstill, the effects of the shutdown are worsening.

Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about when they might eventually get paid. Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families are facing potential cutoffs in funding. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing 1,400 federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air traffic controller shortages and flight delays in cities across the United States.

At the same time, economists including Goldman Sachs and the nonpartisan CBO have warned that the federal government’s closure will ripple through the economy. More recently, Oxford Economics said a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Small Business Administration supports loans totaling about $860 million a week for 1,600 small businesses. Those programs close to new loans during the shutdown. The shutdown also has halted the issuance and renewal of flood insurance policies, delaying mortgage closings and real estate transactions.

And without action, future health costs are expected to skyrocket for millions of Americans as the federal subsidies, first enacted during the COVID-19 crisis, come to an end. Those subsidies, in the form of tax credits, expire Dec. 31, and insurance companies are sending out information now about the new rates.

November deadlines

Members of both parties acknowledge that as the shutdown drags on, it is becoming less likely every day that Congress will be able to either extend the subsidies or fund the government through the regular appropriations process.

Thune on Monday hinted that Republicans may propose a longer extension of current funding instead of passing individual spending bills if the shutdown doesn’t end soon. Congress would need to pass an extension beyond Nov. 21, he said, “if not something on a much longer-term basis.”

GOP lawmakers expect Trump to stay in line with their current posture to reject negotiations until the government is open.

“Until they put something reasonable on the table to talk about, I don’t think there’s anything to talk about,” said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy.

Democrats say Trump has to be more involved for the government to reopen.

“He needs to get off the sidelines, get off the golf course,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “We know that House and Senate Republicans don’t do anything without getting permission from their boss, Donald J. Trump.”

PHOTO -Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pauses in his office doorway to speak to reporters on day 20 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)