Congress

How Capitol Hill is set to feel the government shutdown pain

Published

9 months ago

September 30, 2025

A government shutdown is looking increasingly likely, and Congress is set to experience the self-inflicted pain of the institution’s inability to pass a spending bill to fund its own operations.

During the last, partial shutdown, which began at the very end of 2018 and concluded 35 days later, a legislative branch appropriations bill had already been enacted, which allowed Capitol Hill to function without interruption.

This time, none of the annual government funding measures have been signed into law. Those who worked in the Capitol complex under these same conditions in 2013, when the government was shuttered for 17 days, will recall extensive waits to enter office buildings, closed parking garages, skipped paychecks and tourists distraught over canceled tours.

Thirteen years later, things will look a little bit different. House and Senate employees, for instance, are now guaranteed backpay under law, even if they may miss a paycheck during a shutdown. That could lead to fewer furloughs, with lawmakers more confident that their staffer will eventually be made whole. But the bathrooms around the complex will still go uncleaned and it could require a longer walk to grab a cup of coffee.

Here’s a guide of what to expect on Capitol Hill if federal funding lapses after midnight Wednesday.

Who is ‘essential’

Unlike executive branch agencies that must follow guidance from the Office of Management and Budget regarding which workers are “essential” and which must be furloughed during a government shutdown, members of Congress can decide for themselves how many of their staffers can continue to work.

In the past — such as in the 2013 shutdown — many lawmakers deemed every staffer essential to keep them paid for the duration of a shutdown, while others went down to a skeleton crew. Since that time, a 2019 law was enacted guaranteeing backpay for all federal employees whether they worked or not during a shutdown, meaning staffing in House, Senate and Committee offices will likely be operating at full strength.

Many staffers will feel the pinch

Just because every congressional aide will eventually get paid doesn’t mean they won’t feel the effects of a missing paycheck. A handful of staffers, given anonymity to candidly discuss personal finances, said they will be seeking assistance from family or other sources to pay their rent in the event of an extended shutdown.

Furloughed employees will still get their health and life insurance benefits. The Congressional Federal Credit Union offers “furlough relief loans” and Navy Federal Credit Union and USAA have similar policies for members. However, the student loan repayment assistance program offered by the House and Senate will halt operations during the shutdown.

Limits on perks and side gigs

The House Ethics Committee typically puts out a call in advance of a shutdown warning members and staff that “during a lapse in appropriations, you remain subject to all ethics rules and regulations” — that is, be careful not to accept gifts from anyone, even if you’re strapped for cash. The Ethics panel specifically reminds aides there are rules against taking on ad hoc jobs with their bosses’ campaigns while still employed with a congressional office.

Staffers are also not allowed to collect unemployment benefits during a shutdown.

No backpay for contractors

Scores of contract workers that run the eateries and other services on Capitol Hill — among the lowest-paid workers on the Capitol campus — will not receive backpay for wages lost during shutdown-related furloughs and closures. Food service workers, granted anonymity so speak candidly, said in interviews they were stressed this week about missing paychecks.

Lawmakers can’t refuse salaries

Members of Congress will get their paychecks because the Treasury Department is constitutionally obligated to send them. Some lawmakers don’t like the optics of getting paid during a shutdown and put out statements insisting they are declining their compensation. Technically, however, all they can do is request their checks be held until the shutdown is resolved, or donate their salaries later to a cause of their choosing.

Logistical woes

Capitol Police will maintain full staffing in order to continue prioritizing “life safety” operations but will likely adjust its numbers when stationing officers at the various doors around the House and Senate office buildings. That means staffers and visitors should brace for long security lines at a limited number of entry points.

The Capitol Visitors Center will be closed and no tours — by the professional “red coat” guides or staff — will be permitted, although lawmakers will be allowed to take small groups around the complex.

The House staff gym will be closed. The members’ gym will be open, “but will not be staffed or cleaned.” Custodial services will also be discontinued for the private bathrooms many members have in their office suites.

Classic amenities like the barber shop and shoe shine station will also be closed. The in-house dry cleaner will “remain open temporarily to allow for customers to pick up items” but then, likewise, shutter.

Where to eat in a shutdown

The Longworth House Office Building will be the food hub on the House side, with both the cafeteria and Starbucks open — the cafeteria from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Starbucks from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The unstaffed convenience stories will remain open, but all other House eateries will be closed.

Across the Capitol, Cups and Co. in the Russell Senate Office Building is also expected to stay open, but other guidance on Senate food options have not been finalized.

Congress

Rubio, Witkoff to brief Congress on Iran

Published

18 minutes ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Top deputies of President Donald Trump will brief Congress on the Iran peace talks in a Monday conference call — the first time administration officials have addressed a broad group of lawmakers since Trump signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Tehran earlier this month.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, will lead the briefing for all House and Senate members at 4 p.m., according to seven people granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Republicans and Democrats have called for more transparency about the 14-point agreement inked on June 18, which initiated a cease-fire between the two countries. Since then, the U.S. and Iran have continued to engage in hostilities.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Red, white and GOP hard-liner blues

Published

3 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republicans finally cleared a runway this week to finish some of their top legislative priorities before the July 4 recess.

That is, unless a small band of hard-liners trip up those plans at takeoff.

Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping to move quickly to pass fiscal 2027 appropriations legislation, the annual defense policy bill and a kids online safety bill that has been years in the making. The movement comes after President Donald Trump instructed GOP hard-liners to stop holding up a procedural vote amid a protest from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and others that the Senate hadn’t passed Trump’s election security bill.

But Luna and other hard-liners are still threatening to tank the procedural vote that could delay the defense policy bill and other measures until they get concessions on the SAVE America Act, amid other demands.

Johnson, for example, had also promised hard-liners a vote before July 4 on a sweeping GOP immigration bill introduced in the prior Congress as H.R. 2, which is highly unlikely to happen.

Johnson for his part has said the House will “pass the SAVE America Act again” by folding parts of it into a third party-line reconciliation bill. But the slimmed-down version he’d need to pursue in order to meet strict Senate rules for the budget process is already being panned by hard-liners as insufficient.

That reconciliation bill is also already delayed. House Republicans aren’t on track to meet their goal of advancing its framework before the July 4 recess as members on the Budget panel balked over how to pay for the legislation in a closed-door meeting last week.

“Time is of the essence, given how many legislative days we have,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, who is sponsoring the kids online safety legislation, said in an interview last week. “If we lose a week, that would be important.”

Meanwhile, Democratic leadership is grappling with their own heated internal divisions this week. Members are split over supporting the adoption of an amendment to a fiscal 2027 spending bill from Rep. Thomas Massie that would end Israel aid and cut the overall foreign military aid program by $3.3 billion.

Appropriations ranking member Rosa DeLauro did not instruct her colleagues on how to vote during a rare Sunday evening caucus call, two sources granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting tell Mia and Riley. Leaders did, however, criticize the amendment as poorly written.

One other item this week that could split members of each party: House lawmakers are also slated to vote on a rewritten war powers resolution from Rep. Rashida Tlaib to reign in Trump administration military actions in Lebanon. Leadership worked with Tlaib to come up with new language last month that is expected to garner more Dem support, but the resolution is still expected to fail without GOP votes.

What else we’re watching:

— SENATE GOP GETS ANTSY ABOUT NOMINATIONS: Some Republican senators are unsettled by Trump’s apparent lack of urgency in filling vacant posts, even as GOP control of the chamber beyond the midterms is increasingly in doubt. There are more than two dozen federal court vacancies. Labor secretary, FDA commissioner and scores of other open positions do not have nominees, and a senior White House official said Trump is in no rush to fill them. “We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a member of Senate HELP, which oversees health, labor and other issues.

—RICK SCOTT SAYS HE’S JUST TRYING TO HELP: Fresh off his controversial Trump invite to a Senate GOP lunch last week, Sen. Rick Scott told Blue Light News in an interview he’s trying to make a mark — not trying to challenge Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Scott insists that neither his invitation to the president nor a letter he circulated afterward outlining how the Senate GOP should be preparing for the midterms should be seen as a prelude to a leadership challenge. The Florida Republican said he’s perfectly happy running the conference’s conservative Steering Committee and predicted Thune would easily secure another term as leader. What has become eminently clear in recent weeks is that Scott — after a long career in business, two terms as governor and nearly eight years as senator — just isn’t a back-bench kind of guy.

Meredith Lee Hill, Riley Rogerson, Alex Gangitano, Jordain Carney and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Congress

Republicans get antsy about confirmations as the Senate hangs in the balance

Published

6 hours ago

June 29, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump is showing little urgency in sending nominations to the Senate even as the GOP’s control of the chamber beyond 2026 is increasingly in doubt.

There are more than two dozen federal court vacancies. Labor secretary, FDA commissioner and scores of other open positions do not have nominees, and a senior White House official said Trump is in no rush to fill them.

“Ultimately, we need to have the right people in those positions,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to describe internal thinking. “So if it’s acting for now, so be it. If [it] takes a little while to find that perfect person, then it takes a little while.”

That’s unsettling some Republican senators who are anxious to fill spots ahead of the midterms, a daunting task given the legislative calendar and host of competing GOP priorities.

“We’re running short on time,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, which oversees health, labor and other issues. “We’d love to get at least one or two of them and get it in the next tranche.”

As far as judges, Tuberville said he wants to see “as many as we can get” nominated, adding, “I don’t know why we don’t have more.”

Trump’s apparent nonchalance — particularly over judges — is a marked departure from his first term, when he opined that appointing people to the bench might be the “single most important thing you do” as president. But as the Senate left for a two-week recess Thursday, there were only 10 nominees pending for 29 judicial vacancies.

The vacancies come amid ongoing tensions between the Senate and Trump, who has put pressure on the chamber to pass the GOP elections bill known as the SAVE America Act, going so far as to cancel a planned Wednesday signing of a bipartisan housing bill.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he “absolutely” wants to see the president nominate more judges before the end of the year. Texas has three court vacancies with zero nominees.

“And that’s one of his greatest legacies, both first term and second,” Cruz said of Trump.

Trump is on pace with his first term in total confirmations in part because Republicans changed the Senate rules last year to confirm slates of civilian posts at once by a simple majority vote.

One tranche confirmed in Mayincluded 49 nominees, from ambassadors to midlevel posts at various federal agencies. So far, 502 of Trump’s second-term nominees have been confirmed, compared to 509 at this point during his first term and 601 at the same point during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Federal judges and members of the Cabinet still have to be confirmed individually, despite the rule change for other posts.

Trump inherited only about 40 judicial vacancies for his current term, fewer than any president since Ronald Reagan. Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) previously complained that the White House hasn’t nominated more judges. More recently, though, he’s blaming his committee for not acting more quickly on the already pending nominees.

“Right now it’s hard for me to blame the White House when in the last three executive weeks, we were supposed to have meetings to vote judges out, we couldn’t have enough members present,” Grassley said in an interview.

A White House official said “Trump plans to nominate well qualified individuals to fill these vacancies.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he’s had “a couple good discussions” with the White House about a circuit court vacancy, which he expects the administration to fill. As a Judiciary Committee member, he can block any nominee that doesn’t get support from Democrats.

“If it’s somebody I support, I’ll vote for them. If it’s somebody I don’t support, I’ll vote no,” Kennedy said. “It’s an important spot. They know I’m on Judiciary, and they know I’ll vote no if I don’t agree.”

The Labor secretary and FDA commissioner picks, meanwhile, go through the HELP committee — chaired by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who lost his primary last month after Trump endorsed a challenger.

Republicans have been left in the dark about those nominees, some on the panel say.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said he’s heard “nothing at all” and “radio silence” from administration. Another GOP senator, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they’ve heard nothing from the administration about its thinking or plans for a Labor secretary nominee specifically.

The HELP Committee membership poses challenges for the administration. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) previously expressed concerns about Casey Means’ nomination as surgeon general before Trump pulled her, for example. And the dynamic between the president and the chair could be a hurdle, three people granted anonymity to comment on the process said.

“Why give Cassidy a platform to get back at DJT?” one of them said.

Another, a GOP senator, predicted Cassidy would “play games” with nominees who have to go through his committee.

“I really don’t think a lot of senators are in any mood to give the president any wins because they’re frustrated with him,” said the third person, who is close to the White House.

But confirming nominees before he leaves the Senate could be a priority for Cassidy, one of the few Republican doctors to push the administration toward public health nominees who align with established science on issues like vaccines.

A potential successor — Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — is a critic of the vaccine and masking standards set during the pandemic and would likely set the committee on a different path.

Recent appointees such as Nicole Saphier for surgeon general and Erica Schwartz for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director are more mainstream than some past HHS appointees like Means and Dave Weldon, who was nominated for CDC director before the administration determined he didn’t have the votes.

Those nominees have been moving through the regular process, including meeting with Cassidy and other senators ahead of confirmation hearings.

Cassidy told reporters after he lost his primary that he would “vote for the good of my country and the good of my state.”

“There’s some nominees that have not gotten through committee for whatever reason, so that’s not anything new,” he added. “That’ll just be part of the process.”

A HELP Committee spokesperson added Thursday that Cassidy has voted for every Trump nominee and that the panel will “do its job to confirm qualified nominees and serve the American people.”

“Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” the spokesperson added.

The White House official said “Trump remains committed to nominating highly qualified individuals for a variety of posts that are aligned with the agenda the American people elected him to enact” and will continue to send nominees to the Senate, including to the HELP Committee.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview he had not spoken to the White House about their plans for some of the major picks under HELP jurisdiction but he encouraged the administration to send nominees.

“I think it’s always better to have people in permanent positions rather than temporary,” Thune added.

Megan Messerly contributed to this report.