(NewsNation) — The Senate failed twice to reach a positive majority Wednesday as lawmakers refused to change their tune on a funding face-off that drove the government into its first shutdown in six years.
After a break Thursday for Yom Kippur, Senate votes on funding are expected to continue Friday and through the weekend, according to its official calendar.
Republican leaders decried the shutdown at a news briefing on Tuesday morning, placing the blame on Democrats, who, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson, “followed through on their threat to shut down the United States government.”
“As we speak here this morning, there are hundreds of thousands of federal workers who are getting their furlough notices,” he continued. “Nearly half of our civilian workforce is going to be sent home.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that as many as 750,000 federal workers could be furloughed during this shutdown, which has no clear end in sight.
Democratic leaders are also expected to publicly address the shutdown, which went into effect at midnight after two separate plans to keep the government open failed to garner enough support.
Johnson dubbed it the “Schumer shutdown” after Democrats did not cede their needed votes to reach an agreement Tuesday over health care policy concerns.
“We need to deal with this health care crisis now, not later, but the Republican bill fails to do that … This is a totally partisan bill,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, N.Y., said on Tuesday night.
Which workers are affected by government shutdown?
On Wednesday morning in Washington, D.C., no tours were being held at the Washington Monument — with some staff already furloughed due to the shutdown — but the government’s screeching halt this week will affect more than just tourism.
President Donald Trump said furloughs and even permanent layoffs could occur during the shutdown, as well as irreversible cuts to some programs.
Federal government labor unions sued Tuesday to block the Trump administration from carrying out any mass layoffs.
The U.S. Department of Education said federal financial aid will continue and that student loan payments will still be due, but roughly 95% of the agency’s workforce will be furloughed during the shutdown.
While some funding and financial services will continue for a week, civil rights investigations and new grantmaking will be put on pause immediately.
The department has already seen big layoffs as part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash government spending.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, 41% of the agency’s workforce will be furloughed; however, the Centers for Disease Control will continue to monitor disease outbreaks.
Military members, FBI agents, air traffic controllers and intelligence officers will keep working through the shutdown, along with the United States Postal Service.
NewsNation’s Anna Kutz contributed to this report.