Government shutdown updates: Judge lays out path for SNAP benefits

In perhaps the most publicly tense moment of this 29-day standoff, Senate Majority Leader John Thune blocked an effort by Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan to move his bill that would have directed USDA to use its contingency funds to fund SNAP.

It was perhaps the most animated Thune has ever been on the Senate floor. He was at times shouting as he blocked the bill, which Lujan was attempting to pass unanimously. Thune argued that if Democrats want to fund SNAP and other programs, they ought to vote to reopen the government to fund all programs.

"Let me just point out if I might that we are 29 days into a Democrat shutdown. And the senator from New Mexico is absolutely right. SNAP recipients shouldn't go without food. People should be getting paid in this country," Thune said before escalating his voice to a full scream. "And we've tried to do that 13 times and you voted no 13 times!"

"This isn't a political game. These are real peoples lives that we are talking about and you all have jut figured out 29 days in that oh there might be some consequences, that people are running out of money," Thune said.

Lujan's bill, co-sponsored by the whole Democratic caucus, would have directed USDA to use its contingency funds to provide funding for SNAP. It comes as 25 states have filed a lawsuit on the issue ahead of the halting of benefits at the start of November.

"The Trump administration has the authority and the funds to keep SNAP running during this shutdown," Lujan said. "Any failure to do so right now falls squarely on the Trump administration and Republicans."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

House staffers received a notice on Wednesday stating that they will not receive their next paycheck scheduled for Friday, the first missed paycheck of the government shutdown, according to a notice obtained by ABC News.

"Due to the lapse in appropriations, the October 2025 monthly pay disbursement scheduled for a pay date of Friday, October 31, will be delayed until after funding is enacted," the notice states.

Health and life insurance coverage will not be interrupted for House staffers, according to a separate memo from the House Chief Administrative Officer to staffers.

Meanwhile, House lawmakers do receive their paychecks during the shutdown -- though several have requested their pay be withheld.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he and Speaker Mike Johnson had a discussion earlier this week on the shutdown, but after each party leader characterized the other as "irredeemable," it's clear the two did not have a productive conversation.

"They're irredeemable on a whole host of issues. They certainly are irredeemable, these Republican extremists, when it comes to actually standing up for the American people," Jeffries said. "Republicans have done this, and they now refuse to even sit down and address the health care crisis that they have inflicted on the American people."

Earlier Wednesday, Johnson had said that both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Jeffries were "irredeemable" -- as Republicans continue to troll Democrats over the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York.

Jeffries confirmed that the topic of the call was the shutdown, but expressed doubt that the top congressional leaders will break the impasse. Instead, he predicted it'll be rank-and-file members who strike a bipartisan compromise.

"It was a brief conversation. I reiterated our position as it relates to a willingness to sit down to find a bipartisan path forward, that we want to continue to support our hard working federal employees, who they've been victimizing since Jan. 20, that we need to reopen the government, and we need to do it now, but we also need to address the Republican healthcare crisis," Jeffries said as he read out the call with Johnson. "Our position as Democrats has been clear. We're not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to cut the health care the American people."

-ABC News' John Parkinson

House Speaker Mike Johnson warned Wednesday that the impacts of the government shutdown this week are "getting really tough for the American people" and placed the onus squarely on Democrats.

"You've got families and children that rely upon SNAP benefits that are going to go hungry here at the end of the week," he said at a news conference.

Johnson downplayed pushback from Republicans who want the House to return to session amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke up on a private GOP conference call Tuesday and urged leadership to bring the House back as well as articulate a plan to address the expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.

"By our count, there are about three or four members of the House Republican conference who have only mildly questioned working in the districts as opposed to being here on the floor," Johnson said.

The speaker bluntly stated that bringing the House back in session would be a "futile exercise" when asked about the need to pass another bill to fund the government as the Nov. 21 date approaches.

"If I brought the House back and we passed another CR, it would meet the exact same fate from Chuck Schumer," Johnson said. "He would mock it. They would spike it, and they would try to blame it on us. So, what is the point?"

Johnson added that "it doesn't matter what we do in the House," diminishing the chamber's role in the shutdown.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller