House Democrats‘ attempt to call for unanimous consent for a vote on their spending deal proposal was shot down with little drama on the floor during a pro forma session on Tuesday, 12 hours before an impending government shutdown.

Most, if not all, of the Democratic caucus stood on the House floor to ask the chamber to vote on their continuing resolution that would kick the funding deadline for fiscal 2026 until Oct. 31. Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) stood at the podium, asking for the presiding speaker to recognize her so she could bring up the continuing resolution.

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However, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), the acting speaker, refused to recognize DeLauro and adjourned the House. House Democrats began yelling at Griffith, but he and Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) left the chamber and ignored them.

During a district work period, the acting speaker is allowed to adjourn the House at any time, and they do not have to recognize members for unanimous consent requests on a bill if it was not cleared with the majority and minority leaders of that bill’s committee. Had the unanimous consent request been allowed to proceed, only one Republican, likely Davidson, would have needed to oppose to prevent it.

The theatrics on the House floor, albeit muted this time around, are the latest in a string of demonstrations by Democrats to show they are in Washington, D.C., ready to work, while Republicans are “on vacation.”

According to an email sent to staff and obtained by the Washington Examiner, Democratic leadership is asking members to participate in a 24-hour shutdown livestream. The stream begins Tuesday afternoon and will run until 2 p.m. on Wednesday. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-NY) team asked for members who are available for the 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. slots.

“We need Members to anchor time slots and fill that time with conversation, ideally with another Member,” the email said.

Democrats held two press conferences on Tuesday ahead of the government shutdown deadline, which kicks in at midnight on Oct. 1. The Senate is poised to vote on the GOP’s continuing resolution, which punts the deadline to Nov. 21. Still, it is unlikely to get Democratic support, given it failed the last time and no new deal has been made between the parties.

The press conferences largely centered on Democrats urging Republicans to take action now on the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which expire at the end of the year, and blasting their GOP colleagues for their absences.

“All across the country and across the world, on the eve of a government shutdown, we’re on duty. They’re on vacation,” Jeffries said during the caucus-wide presser, accusing Republicans of being “missing in action.”

House Republicans have insisted that they have done their job by passing a “clean” continuing resolution, and it is now on Senate Democrats to do theirs. They blamed any shutdown on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Who is to blame for a shutdown in the eyes of the voters remains to be seen. Several Democrats, including Hispanic Caucus Chairman Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), said the blame for any shutdown consequences rests with the GOP trifecta.

“They’re the majority in the House. They’re the majority in the Senate. They’re running the White House,” Espaillat said during the caucus leader press conference. “They’re controlling every aspect of government. This is their shutdown.”

After the press conferences, House Democrats huddled for their second caucus meeting of the week. One source in the room told the Washington Examiner that the atmosphere was akin to a “pep rally.”

Jeffries and Schumer met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), and President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday. However, leaders emerged without a deal and seemingly more divided than ever. Each side blamed the other, with Democrats insisting that Trump is the ultimate decision maker, while Republicans blasted Democrats for holding government funding “hostage” to get their demands met.

Healthcare has been the primary focus of the shutdown fight, as Democrats want to see the reforms to Medicaid in the “big, beautiful bill” rolled back and the ACA credits permanently extended. Democratic leaders told their members that Thune, Trump, and Vice President JD Vance understood the need to tackle the ACA credits soon, but not in the continuing resolution process.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz echoed Trump and Republican leaders, saying “we have time” to address the ACA subsidies.

“We have time till the end of the year to make the changes,” Oz said. “I know the president is evaluating, but we should have a clean continuing resolution, get past this budget process, as it has happened so many times, and allow the president and leadership some freedom to be able to put some good ideas in front of the legislature.”

However, Democrats are insisting that the time is now, promising they won’t vote for a “partisan” spending bill that doesn’t address the healthcare “crisis” that they believe Republicans started.

“Speaker Johnson canceled work days and won’t bring back House Republicans from their vacations, and Senate Republicans shot down a Democratic proposal that would lower healthcare costs for millions,” congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chairwoman Grace Meng (D-NY) said at the caucus leadership presser. 

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“Republicans created their crisis, and instead of meeting the needs of our constituents, they are playing political games with the paychecks, healthcare, and jobs of hardworking Americans,” Meng added.

The Senate is poised to vote on both the Democratic continuing resolution and the GOP continuing resolution after 5 p.m. Both are expected to fail, although eyes will be on swing-state Democrats and Schumer to see if they will cave and vote to reach the 60-vote filibuster threshold on the GOP continuing resolution.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

Lauren Green and Gabrielle Etzel contributed to this report.