OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
7:42 AM – Thursday, October 2, 2025
The federal shutdown will likely extend at least until Friday, as lawmakers remain at an impasse over a government funding deal.
The Senate failed to pass a Republican, House-passed funding bill twice in 24 hours, once on Tuesday night and once on Wednesday. They left Washington, D.C. after also rejecting a Democrat funding bill on Wednesday.
Thursday, Congress does not meet, as the government will observe the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, making Friday the next opportunity to vote on a bill.
If legislation is not passed on Friday, more than two days after the beginning of the shutdown, it is expected that they will vote again on Saturday. They will then have Sunday off and return on Monday.
The prolonged shutdown—the first in seven years—will affect access to economic data. The United States Department of Labor (DOL) released a contingency plan on Friday that said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which produces government reports on the economy, will “suspend all operations” due to the shutdown.
“Economic data that are scheduled to be released during the lapse will not be released,” the plan said.
The next employment report was scheduled for Friday.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is also closed during the shutdown, meaning consumers will be unable to report fraud.
The agency’s Office of Technology said on X that this “means we won’t be able to answer your questions on X. Consumers cannot report fraud or register for Do Not Call during this time.”
President Donald Trump has responded to the government funding lapse by threatening to make permanent cuts to the federal workforce.
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, the president announced an upcoming meeting with Russel Vought, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB, “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
Trump continued, “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The president noted Vought’s involvement with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which calls for several funding cuts. Under Vought, the OMB made $8 billion worth of funding cuts to climate change initiatives in 16 Democrat-run states.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters that the shutdown would mean that “certain people are going to have to get laid off.”
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