The government shutdown will likely extend into next week. Senate Democrats are ready to block the Republican short-term funding bill again on Friday. The Senate will not remain in session over the weekend.

GOP presses for another vote

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday the chamber will not stay in town. “They’ll have a fourth chance tomorrow to vote to keep — to open up the government. And if that fails, then they can have the weekend to think about it, we’ll come back, we’ll vote again on Monday,” CNN quoted Thune as saying.

Senator Mike Rounds called Friday’s vote “crucial.” He warned that “things go south real quick” if the government stays shut. “I think, really, tomorrow’s vote is a crucial vote. Our Democrat colleagues have got to open this up again,” he said.

Democrats hold firm

Most Democrats still oppose the GOP bill. It is unclear if any will switch sides on Friday. Rounds urged them to act quickly. “All we’re trying to do is to get them to understand how serious it is in terms of the timing doesn’t work in their favour. And the sooner we get past this shutdown, as soon as they allow government to operate again, we can get back to all of the other negotiations that we normally do in regular order,” he explained.

“And that continues to be the message: stop this shutdown, and let’s get back to work,” he added.

Political blame game

Reporters asked if Republicans would pay a price if workers lost jobs. Rounds rejected that idea. He said Democrats risk more damage.
“I think it’s gonna bite them harder than it does us, because the place where, you know, the OMB has looked in the past has been in places that are not consistent with President Trump’s policies,” he told reporters.

“And there’s a whole lot of things out there that the Democrats care about that are not consistent with the President’s policies, and those are the first things at risk,” he added. “Now, what does that do for actually getting any kind of an agreement on anything after the shutdown is complete? It does not help their cause.”

White House warns of layoffs

The White House admitted thousands of federal workers could lose jobs. “Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. She added that the Office of Management and Budget is already working on it.

Earlier, President Donald Trump said he met OMB Director Russell Vought “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies” will face cuts. He said the cuts could be “temporary or permanent.”

Leavitt would not name agencies. “Those conversations are taking place today. I won’t prejudge them,” she said. She added the White House is looking at agencies “that don’t align with the president’s values” and ones “that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollar.”

When asked on Fox News if Trump’s threat was only a tactic, Leavitt replied: “Oh, it’s very real.”