President Donald Trump, returning from a weeklong diplomatic trip to Asia, prevailed in the shutdown fight in Washington overnight with a call for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster and unilaterally reopen the government.
However, the request to change the traditional rule was quickly rejected by Majority Leader John Thune.
That means the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats continues with no obvious end in sight. If it is not resolved by Wednesday, it will become the longest shutdown in US history.
A new ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll finds that more Americans blame Trump and Republicans in Congress than Democrats for the shutdown.
It remains to be seen whether Trump becomes more personally involved in ending the impasse as the political risk grows, especially as Americans begin to seriously feel and see the impacts, including lines at food banks and airplane delays.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One before departing Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Oct. 31, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
On Saturday, the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will expire. That means approximately 42 million Americans who rely on the food stamp program will be vulnerable by not being able to get benefits.
Saturday also marks the start of open enrollment for Affordable Cars Act beneficiaries, many of whom will face much higher insurance premiums next year due to the expiration of tax credits.
Democrats demand that President Trump and Republicans work with them to extend ACA subsidies. Trump and Republicans say they will not negotiate until the government reopens.
On Friday, Trump doubled down on that approach.
“I’m always willing to meet. All you have to do is open the country. Open the country and we’ll meet,” Trump said as he stepped off Air Force One in Florida, where he will spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Lawmakers are also out of town, as the House of Representatives will not be in session next week and the Senate will not return until Monday night.
Trump moves funds for the military, but not for SNAP
Trump has taken several steps to keep the military paid during the shutdown. Accepted a $130 million donation from a private donor. The White House Office of Management and Budget then transferred $5.3 billion in funds from other sources to pay military members on October 31.
Is there a chance Trump could do the same with SNAP?
“Well, there always is” Trump said Friday before immediately pointing the finger at Democrats.
“But all the Democrats have to do is say let’s go. I mean, they don’t have to do anything. All they have to do is say the government is open and we only need five Democrats. But they have become a radical left party,” the president said.
Carts full of groceries wait to be delivered to people in need at the Curley’s House Food Bank days before Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits expire due to the federal government shutdown, on October 30, 2025 in Miami.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, at a Friday morning news conference alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson, insisted that the department’s contingency fund cannot legally be used to keep SNAP funded during a shutdown.
“It’s a contingency fund that can only flow if the underlying appropriation is approved. And listen, even if it could flow, it doesn’t even cover half of the month of November. So here we are, again, two weeks from now, having the exact same conversation,” he said.
SNAP funding has been the focus of several lawsuits, with Democratic states suing the administration to keep funds flowing. A federal judge on Friday temporarily ordered the Trump administration to continue funding benefits, although the administration could appeal.
On Friday night, Trump posted on his social media platform that government lawyers “do not believe we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain funds we have available,” but that “it will be my HONOR to provide the funds just as I did with the payment to military and law enforcement” if the court “clarifies how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible.”
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson during a news conference on Capitol Hill on October 31, 2025 in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Democrats have taken aim at Trump, saying he hasn’t done enough to intervene. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of having “kowtowed” to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Asia, as two crises soon unfold in the country over food aid and health care.
“Trump is a vindictive politician and a heartless man,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Republicans, on the other hand, argue that Democrats are the ones holding the government hostage.
“This is how a child behaves. This is not how a responsible governing party in the United States of America behaves,” Vice President JD Vance said Thursday after leading a White House roundtable discussion on the impact of the shutdown on the aviation industry. Vance said holiday travel for Americans will be a “disaster” if the stalemate is not ended.
President Trump on Friday accused Democrats of having “lost their minds.”
