Government offices have been closed for over a month now, but Senate activities have continued unabated.
On Tuesday night, Congress is set to break the record for the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This comes after Senate Democrats blocked yet another bipartisan Republican-supported clean spending bill aimed at reopening the government—marking the 13th consecutive time this has happened. Following a 34-day impasse, the Senate has managed to confirm numerous presidential nominees and pass important legislation on defense spending and tariff laws.
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the House of Representatives hasn’t voted on the clean spending bill since September 19, which is when the bill initially passed.
A week after the shutdown began, on October 7, the Senate confirmed a rule change proposed by Republican leaders. This rule allows for “blanket” confirmations, enabling an increase in confirmed executive branch nominees from the usual rate to 107 at one time. Before the shutdown, the Senate schedule was already bogged down with an unprecedented number of nominees awaiting confirmation.
During this period, the Senate confirmed Hung Kao as vice secretary of the Navy and approved nine judges. This info comes from the Senate Record.
Another significant action taken by the Senate was passing the annual defense policy bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Approved on October 9 with a 77-20 vote, this legislation strengthens military readiness in the Indo-Pacific region and implements important operational changes for the Department of the Army, with spending exceeding White House expectations by $32 billion.
Additionally, the Senate has been focused on addressing President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, which justified tariffs. In late October, it passed a bipartisan resolution that ended this state of emergency—an action that impacts Trump’s global tariff policy and tariffs on countries like Canada and Brazil.
President Trump had originally declared a state of emergency to address various concerns, such as trade imbalances worldwide, drug trafficking in Canada, and political censorship in Brazil, all of which served as justifications for the imposed tariffs.
Three joint resolutions were also passed during the shutdown to lift regulatory restrictions concerning energy, mining, and public land development. The resolutions specifically targeted land use regulations enforced by the Bureau of Land Management in states like Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska.
In the past month, the Senate has also addressed several bills; however, many have not fared well. Notable among these was legislation intended to limit President Trump’s military actions against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, along with attempts to restrict the deployment of the National Guard in the U.S.
