Government Shutdown has hit 14 days, more layoffs to come

- 14 October, 2025

Government shutdown has officially hit 14-days
‘No Kings’ protest on October 18th allegedly pushing conclusion of Democrat resistance
Social Security furloughed instead of fired completely
Additional 4,000 firings scheduled for the future
Voting speculated to fail

Shutdown continued over continuous disagreements

It has officially hit the 14-day mark of the government shutdown. The class with Congress remains stalled by over spending proposals. Healthcare funding has risen to the top of the issues at hand, along with tax credits. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expires January 1^st, 2026. This effects people who purchase their own healthcare. Democratic powers urging for subsidies to extend the enrollment before November 1^st, 2025.

The Republican speaker Mike Johnson stated “Barreling towards one of the longest shutdowns in American history unless Democrats step down from their demands and agree on a budget to reopen and pay federal workers”.

‘No Kings’ Protest centering as the main point of blame for the extended shutdown

The cabinet secretaries informed the public that Democrats are keeping the federal government closed in the sake of another ‘No Kings’ protest scheduled this weekend. Fox Business have reiterated blame on Democrats for the two-week shutdown. Stating the cabinet is looking to extend the closure specifically for the protest to come. This coming after speculation of a desire to show activists the party is putting an emphasized pressure on the Trump administration. Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, stated “No Kings’ means no paychecks for American workers. No paychecks and no government”. ().

Preparing for more layoffs as the shutdown continues

The administration stated Monday that there will continue to be additional layoffs of federal workers as the shutdown drags on. The Office of Management of Budget took to X, previously Twitter, saying “making every preparation to brace and ride out the Democrats’ stubbornness”. Russell Vought echoed concerns urging to “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, and continue to wait”. Firings began last Friday totaling about 4,000 federal workers. Senior administration members told USA Today that it was only the first of many layoffs to come. Layoffs, challenged in court after removing a majority of the Department of Education. This reinforced by Trump’s executive order removing the vast majority of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation.

What about Social Security?

The Social Security Administration is furloughed. This does limit the available services during the shutdown. Social Security and Supplemental Security Income payments continuing and considered a mandatory spending are not dependent on congressional approval. The fact being that Social Security offices are still open during the shutdown; some agency services are unavailable. SSA had planned to present the cost-of-living edits for 2026 on the 15^th of October. Postponed till October 24^th, the delay in Bureau of Labor Statistics’ September inflation report.

The continued vote against mass firings by the Senate

Returning today Tuesday October 14^th, the Senate planes to vote for the eighth time on reopening the government. This is expected to fail due to the continued clashing of heads. The Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services and Education Department are expected to see the largest cuts. This is expected to target 1,446 employees with 1,200 within Health and Human Services. Approximately 4,000 civil-service employees were notified October 10^th of future layoffs instead of furloughs. The military is guaranteed government entity to continue regularly scheduled payments.

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