OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:19 PM – Sunday, October 5, 2025
The government shutdown continues on its fifth day, with little progress made as Democrats continue to hold out in an attempt to repeal the Trump administration’s prior spending cuts and restore Obamacare subsidies.
The Senate has failed to pass four separate continuing resolution bills that would have kept the government open until November 21st, giving lawmakers additional time to negotiate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared in a Sunday morning Fox News segment, labeling the government closure a “Schumer Shutdown.”
“Chuck Schumer instigated this at the will of far-left, liberal interest groups. Democrats need to come to their senses and vote for this short-term, nonpartisan [continuing resolution] and give us an opportunity to continue the bipartisan appropriations process,” Thune wrote in an X post.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) echoed Thune’s sentiment, criticizing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the Democrats for failing to “turn the lights back on in Congress” by holding out for their funding requests, rather than passing the temporary spending bill and negotiating health care after.
“We’re not saying that we won’t negotiate it,” Johnson stated, noting that the health insurance tax credits are a complicated issue that will take time, as Republicans seek to root out “a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse” within the health care system.
“As a condition for ending the Democrat shutdown, Democrats want hospitals paid MORE to treat illegal aliens than American citizens — including young pregnant women. That’s not an exaggeration. It’s written in black and white — Page 57, Section 2141 of Chuck Schumer’s counterproposal. Republicans made it illegal for Medicaid to reimburse care for illegal aliens at higher rates than for U.S. citizens. Democrats are now demanding to reverse that,” Johnson wrote in an X post.
Meanwhile, Schumer argued in a Sunday appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” in which he claimed that Johnson and the Republicans are “not serious” about the negotiations.
“We’ve been trying for months and months to sit down with them and have a serious conversation addressing America’s health care needs, and they’ve refused and refused and refused,” Schumer stated.
“The American people know that they’re in charge – Republican president, Republican Senate, Republican House – that they have a responsibility to govern, which means sit down and talk with us so we can address these needs,” he added.
The Senate voted for the GOP-backed continuing resolution on Friday, garnering 54 votes, which is just shy of the 60 votes required to pass.
The Senate is set to reconvene on Monday afternoon.
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