Democrats say they won't be intimidated by Trump's threats as the
shutdown enters a third week
[October 16, 2025]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK and STEPHEN GROVES
WASHINGTON (AP) — Entering the third week of a government shutdown,
Democrats say they are not intimidated or cowed by President Donald
Trump’s efforts to fire thousands of federal workers or by his threats
of more firings to come.
Instead, Democrats appear emboldened, showing no signs of caving as they
returned to Washington from their home states this week and twice more
rejected a Republican bill to open the government. The vote Wednesday
was the ninth time the GOP plan has failed.
“What people are saying is, you’ve got to stop the carnage,” said
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, describing what he heard from his constituents,
including federal workers, as he traveled around his state over the
weekend. “And you don’t stop it by giving in.”
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said the firings are “a fair amount of bluster”
and predicted said they ultimately will be overturned in court or
otherwise reversed. That was already happening Wednesday, when a federal
judge in California temporarily ordered the administration to stop the
firings.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday that
the layoffs are a “mistaken attempt” to sway Democratic votes. His House
counterpart, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said the
administration’s “intimidation tactics are not working. And will
continue to fail.”
Democratic senators say they are hearing instead from voters about
health insurance subsidies that expire at the end of the year, the issue
that the party has made central to the shutdown fight.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said that the impact of the expiring health
insurance subsidies on millions of people, along with cuts to Medicaid
enacted by Republicans earlier this year, “far outweighs” any of the
firings of federal workers that the administration is threatening.
Republicans, too, are confident in their strategy not to negotiate on
the health care subsidies until Democrats give them the votes to reopen
the government. There were no signs of any movement on either side.
“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American
history,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said earlier this week.
Moderate Democrats aren’t budging
In the first hours of the shutdown, which began at 12:01 a.m. EDT Oct.
1., it was not clear how long Democrats would hold out.
A group of moderate Democrats who had voted against the GOP bill
immediately began private, informal talks with Republicans. The GOP
lawmakers hoped enough Democrats would quickly change their votes to end
a filibuster and pass the spending bill with the necessary 60 votes.
But the bipartisan talks over the expiring health care subsidies have
dragged on without a resolution so far. Two weeks later, the moderates,
including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and
Gary Peters of Michigan, are still voting no.
“Nothing about a government shutdown requires this or gives them new
power to conduct mass layoffs,” Peters said after the director of the
White House's budget director, Russell Vought, announced that the
firings had started on Friday.
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The Capitol is seen under gray skies on the thirteenth day of the
government shutdown, in Washington, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. (AP
Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
DC-area lawmakers see advantages to shutdown
Another key group of Democrats digging in are lawmakers such as like
Kaine who represent millions of federal workers in Virginia and
Maryland. Kaine said the shutdown was preceded by “nine months of
punitive behavior” as the Republican president has made cuts at federal
agencies “and everybody knows who’s to blame.”
“Donald Trump is at war with his own workforce, and we don’t reward CEOs
who hate their own workers,” Kaine said.
Appearing at a news conference Tuesday alongside supportive federal
workers, Democratic lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia called on
Republicans to come to the negotiating table.
“The message we have today is very simple,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen
of Maryland. “Donald Trump and Russ Vought stop attacking federal
employees, stop attacking the American people and start negotiating to
reopen the federal government and address the looming health care crisis
that is upon us.”
Mass firings, and a judge's order to stop
In a court filing Friday, the White House Office of Management and
Budget said well over 4,000 federal employees from eight departments and
agencies would be fired in conjunction with the shutdown.
On Tuesday, Trump said his administration is using the shutdown to
target federal programs that Democrats like and “they’re never going to
come back, in many cases.”
“We are closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with and they’re
never going to open again,” he said.
But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said Wednesday
that the cuts appeared politically motivated and were being carried out
without much thought. She granted a temporary restraining order that
unions had sought to block the cuts, saying she believed the evidence
ultimately would show they were illegal.
“It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated," she said.
More votes in the Senate
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., held firm that Republicans
would not negotiate until Democrats reopen the government. “We’re
willing to have a conversation on all of the other issues they want to
talk about," he said Wednesday, but not until then.
The firings, Thune has repeatedly said, “are a situation that could be
totally avoided.”
As Democrats again rejected the GOP legislation to reopen the
government, Republicans announced additional votes on individual
spending bills, starting Thursday with the defense legislation that
would fund salaries for the military. It was unclear whether Democrats
would support it.
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AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
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