Government shutdown enters Day 7 as Trump signals shift in negotiations. Live updates Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY October 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM 52 WASHINGTON – The federal government shutdown entered Day Seven on Tuesday, Oct.
- - Government shutdown enters Day 7 as Trump signals shift in negotiations. Live updates
Joey Garrison, Zac Anderson and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY October 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM
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WASHINGTON – The federal government shutdown entered Day Seven on Tuesday, Oct. 7 with still no deal in sight after Senate Democrats for the fifth time rejected a Republican-backed bill to fund the government through Nov. 21
But in a significant shift, President Donald Trump is now expressing openness to one of Democrats' main policy demands – that expiring subsides in the Affordable Care Act be extended.
"If we made the right deal, I'd make a deal. Sure," Trump said Monday when asked by a reporter whether he's willing to make a deal with Democrats on the expiring Obamacare subsidies for lower-income families.
The White House and Republican leaders in Congress have previously said they won't negotiate health care policy under after the government is reopened. But Trump said he's started talking to Democrats about the subject.
"We have a negotiation going on with the Democrats that could lead to good things," Trump said. "And I'm talking about good things with regard to health care."
With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/Tm74D91 class=caas-img data-headline="See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open" data-caption="
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
">People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
" src=https://ift.tt/Tm74D91 class=caas-img>
Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
" data-src=https://ift.tt/tGspPiZ class=caas-img data-headline="See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open" data-caption="
Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
">Members of the National Guard patrol along the grounds of the US Capitol on the first day of the US government shutdown in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2025. Essential services, like military and law enforcement, remain working.
" src=https://ift.tt/tGspPiZ class=caas-img>
1 / 15See the impact of the government shutdown as agencies shutter or fight to stay open
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed. With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.
Johnson questions legality of back pay, but stresses workers should get it
Citing a "new legal analysis," House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that some legal analysts believe furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay."If that is true, that should turn up the urgency and the necessity of the Democrats doing the right thing here," he said.He didn't specifically say what legal opinion he was referencing, but it came after similar arguments were made in a draft memo from the White House's Office of Management and Budget.Johnson stressed he hopes federal workers get back pay, and President Trump has told him he feels the same way.
-- Zachary Schermele
White House memo says furloughed workers not entitled to back pay
As the federal government furloughs thousands of workers amid the government shutdown, a draft memo from the White House says the employees are not entitled to back pay when they return, according to an administration official.
The threat of withholding pay from federal workers ups the stakes in the showdown between congressional Democrats and the White House and congressional Republicans over funding the government, although it's not clear if the Trump administration would follow through. Axios first reported on the White House draft memo.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed in the shutdown. Their total daily compensation is around $400 million.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management released a memo in September on shutdown furloughs stating workers would get paid.
"After the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were required to perform excepted work during the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those work periods," the OPM memo states.
A 2019 law signed by Trump states that federal workers who are furloughed during a lapse in government funding "shall be paid for the period of the lapse." The law states that it applies to any government funding lapse after Dec. 22, 2018.
-Zac Anderson
The shutdown is playing out in the Virginia governor's race
President Donald Trump's moves to slash the size of the federal government earlier this year were already a focal point of Virginia's gubernatorial contest.
The Old Dominion State has more federal workers than most and Democrats believe those simmering frustrations coupled with the ongoing government shutdown that began Oct. 1 will boil over in their favor as thousands more are now furloughed, which could slow critical services or result in mass firings.
"Our money's kind of on hold. It's painful," Chris Witter, 54, a stay-at-home father of two 16-year-old girls whose wife works for the federal government.
He blamed the shutdown on Republicans, and polling shows most Americans agree.
The race between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears was already an election many view as the first national referendum on Trump's agenda, but the shutdown has sent the race into overdrive.
— Phillip M. Bailey
MTG, 'not a fan' of Obamacare, calls for extension of subsidies
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Trump supporter who calls herself "not a fan" of Obamacare, but she joined Democrats in calling for an extension of federal subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to keep health insurance costs down.Greene, R-Georgia, said in a social media post Oct. 6 that her adult children's insurance premiums for 2026 are poised to "DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district," if the tax credits expire.
Senate Democrats have refused to reopen the government since Oct. 1 by arguing that Medicaid funding cuts should be restored and subsidies for Obamacare extended. Republicans who control Congress contend the Medicaid cuts remove undocumented immigrants and force able-bodied citizens to work for Medicaid benefits. Greene doesn't seek to restore Medicaid cuts.
Trump and GOP congressional leaders say they can negotiate Obamacare subsidies after the government reopens and before the funding expires Dec. 31.
"I'm carving my own lane," said Greene, who joined Congress in 2021 a decade after lawmakers created Obamacare. "And I'm absolutely disgusted that health insurance premiums will DOUBLE if the tax credits expire this year."--Bart Jansen
Schumer disputes Trump's claims about negotiations
Trump did not identify the Democrats who are part of the discussions. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected Trump's claims that negotiations over health care are taking place between the president and Democrats.
More: Trump says he's open to striking deal with Democrats on extending health care subsidies
"Trump's claim isn't true — but if he's finally ready to work with Democrats, we'll be at the table," Schumer said in a statement.
The senator added: "If President Trump and Republicans are finally ready to sit down and get something done on healthcare for American families, Democrats will be there — ready to make it happen."
‒ Joey Garrison
A child walks past the closed National Gallery of Art during the fifth day of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 5, 2025.Trump hasn't followed through on threats of mass firings
Although about 750,000 federal workers have been placed on furloughs during the shutdown, President Donald Trump hasn't followed though on his warnings of mass layoffs across the federal workforce.
The White House last week said layoffs were "imminent." Russell Vought, the White House director of Management and Budget, told Republican lawmakers last Wednesday on Oct. 1 that reductions in force would begin in "a day or two."
President Donald Trump delivers remarks in the Oval Office of the White House on October 06, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke on an executive order to increase the development and production of Alaska's natural resources.
But so far, it's been all threats and no action.
Trump on Monday said mass layoffs remain on the table. "It could," Trump said when asked whether another defeat in the Senate of Republicans' funding bill could lead to layoffs. "At some point it will."
‒ Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Government shutdown enters Day 7 as Trump signals shift: Live updates
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