Both Chambers are now out of session. Stay tuned for further analysis next week.
The Senate recessed last night and is scheduled to return on Tuesday, October 14, making it unlikely that military service members will receive a paycheck on October 15. Republican leadership continues to say they will not bring a standalone bill on military pay to the floor; however, Rep. Jen Kiggans’ (R-VA) bill to ensure military pay (H.R. 5401) has 148 co-sponsors (104 Republicans, 44 Democrats). Notably, Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) signed onto the bill. The White House has reportedly considered using tariff revenue to cover the next military paychecks. The two current inflection points are military pay and the fact that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is unlikely to acquiesce, given the “No Kings” events scheduled for October 18.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is no longer allowing Minority Leader Schumer to file cloture on the Democrat CR (S.2882), meaning it will no longer be regularly voted on. This leaves the Republican House-backed CR (H.R. 5371) as the only option forward. The Democrats have one more reconsideration left for their CR, which they may bring forward at any time.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced there will be more rescissions coming. Rescissions are the formal process of rolling back funding that Congress has already appropriated. There have been two rescissions so far this term, at the request of the White House. The first was a Congressionally approved rescission of $9 billion in funding, and the second was a “pocket rescission” of $4 billion, the nature of which allowed for the side-stepping of Congressional approval. The introduction of another rescission could push lawmakers even further away from an agreement on reopening the government.
Reductions in Force
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted on social media that reductions-in-force (RIFs) have begun. In response, Leader Thune said, “I think they held off as long as they could.” As promised, the layoffs are coming from not-yet-specified “Democrat programs” across nine agencies, including the Department of the Interior, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of the Treasury, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It appears that it is primarily currently furloughed employees who are receiving RIFs.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has spoken out against Director Vought’s mass layoffs, saying she “strongly opposes [the] attempt to permanently lay off federal workers who have been furloughed due to a completely unnecessary government shutdown caused by Senator Schumer.” Many details are still unfolding. Here is what has surfaced so far:
- HHS employees received a memo stating that the RIFs are “a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown.”
- The only specified number of layoffs at this time is 1,300 workers from the Department of the Treasury.
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has been specifically identified for layoffs within DHS, but it is unclear if that is the only program within the agency that will face personnel cuts.
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