Thune's speech void of any veiled threatpublished at 19:53 BST 30 September

19:53 BST 30 September

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Majority Leader John Thune, flanked by other top Senate Republicans, stuck to the party line during his just-concluded press conference at the Capitol.

His party’s strategy is to characterise their request – to fund the government until mid-November – as a “routine” move to afford more time for negotiations.

Absent was anything like the veiled threat Trump made in the Oval Office earlier today about how the shutdown might open the door to permanently cutting government programmes that Democrats like.

That may be because some of the possible spending on the chopping block – “things medically and other ways, including benefits”, in Trump’s words – are not only popular with the public, they help Republican voters, too.

Thune may figure that it is best to leave the threat – and, in particular, the details of it – unstated for now.

Image source, EPA

Hakeem Jeffries, the Minority Leader of the House, says the Democrats are seeking a path forward that still makes their message clear to Republicans.

The message is that they will not support a partisan Republican spending bill "that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people”.

Speaking on a live stream on YouTube, which is expected to last for 24 hours, he aims to highlight why Democrats are "holding the line against Trump and extreme Maga Republican efforts to rip away healthcare from millions of Americans".

“We’re here as House Democrats on duty. House Republicans are on vacation and they need to get back to Washington DC if they are serious at all about trying to find a path forward.”

Throughout the livestream, Jefferies is being joined by House Democrats giving their perspective on why they are fighting for a path to fund the government.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Thune is still speaking to reporters at the Capitol, he tells us that spending negotiations will happen if the government stays open.

"This is not complicated," he says adding that this is something that has happened repeatedly under Democratic leadership.

During the Biden administration, there were 13 continuing resolutions, he repeatedly says.

Thune has left the podium, and the reporters around me are all chatting amongst themselves, asking "What's next? and "Where do Democrats go from here?"

We should hear from Democrats shortly - we'll bring you their comments once we have them, stay with us.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Ana Faguy / BBC

John Thune, the Republican leader of the Senate, is addressing reporters now.

He says that Senate Democrats have a clear choice: either vote for the continuing resolution passed in the House that keeps spending levels the same, or shut the government down.

Thune says Republicans won’t be “taken hostage" to give "illegals free healthcare".

As a reminder, Democrats don’t want to use continuing resolutions to keep the government open. They want to negotiate an agreement to renew the government health insurance subsidies for low-income individuals that expire at the end of the year.

We'll have more comments from Senator John Thune in our next post.

Since 1980, the US government has shutdown 15 times.

Going back a few decades, the time they lasted was much shorter, ranging from 1-5 days.

Republican Ronald Reagan oversaw eight shutdowns during his presidency in the 1980s - all were relatively brief.

But as the late 90s came, so did longer shutdowns. They became fewer and further between, but climaxed with a record 35-day event at the end of 2018 - the longest in history and during Trump's first term.

It was one of three Trump faced during his time in office.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Live reporter

Image source, William Cridge

Firefighter William Cridge says he will be expected to work without pay during the government shutdown.

The 38-year-old single father-of-three tells me he lives pay cheque-to-pay cheque.

"No matter what, I have to be here, whether the government works or not," he said. "We're spending however long they take to argue with themselves about nothing without pay."

He feels like no one in the government cares about federal workers anymore and that the climate is against them.

"It's me who protects your kids," he says. "You send your kids to the army, it's me who puts the Band-Aids on, it's me who makes sure they're not on fire."

Cridge works for the Department of Defense, and though his job is similar to that of a local firefighter, his obstacles are entirely different. He says his union is trying to do what they can, but they're pushing back against the federal government.

"There is no fight for us," he said. "My direct supervisors are Congress and Donald Trump. We have no one else to turn to."

He'll get back-pay once the government reopens, but until then, he's in limbo. Even with his current wages, Cridge says he has to work a second job to afford food for his kids.

"I've already been having issues getting rent in on time," he said.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

One thing that is clear talking to members of Congress, their staffers and other members of the press is that Democrats and Republicans are not talking to one another - they’re talking at each other.

Hope continues to fade and the rhetoric has largely stayed the same. Both sides blame each other.

We’re waiting to hear from Senators following their lunch, stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Most of today's action in Congress will take place in the US Senate, which later this afternoon is scheduled to hold one more vote on a Republican-backed proposal to temporarily extend current spending levels and avoid a government shutdown.

Democrats are expected to block that from passing.

The House, which approved similar spending legislation earlier this month, is out of session and many of its members are out of town.

The chamber did hold a brief procedural session earlier today, though, and a large group of Democratic legislators attempted to force a vote on their own government-funding proposal.

Unlike the Senate, the minority party has very little power in the House. The Democrats were quickly gavelled down.

The march toward a shutdown at midnight tonight continues.

President Trump has been speaking to journalists at the White House, and he was just asked about the potential government shutdown.

Trump says it's not inevitable, but it does seem likely to happen.

Trump says he and Republicans are the last ones who want a government shutdown.

"Now, with that being said, we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for [Democrats] and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out... cutting programmes that they like," the president continues.

Image source, Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, criticised his Democratic colleagues for not passing a Republican-backed spending bill to fund the government.

"Democrats are blocking it for their own partisan purposes," he said, speaking on the floor of the Senate earlier today. "This is ready to pass right now, this keeps the government open."

He described the Democrat's lack of support as "hostage taking" of federal workers, and said they want a showdown .

Eight Democrats need to support the bill for it to pass, he said.

Nadine Yousif
North America reporter

I've just listened in to a call on how major agencies will function if a shutdown happens. It was hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center. They provide experts to explain all facets of government policies and, as its name suggests, does not take a political side.

The main takeaway: Agencies can manage in the immediate term, but the longer a shutdown goes on, the worse it gets.

They say the exact impacts are unclear because some agencies have not put forward contingency plans. That includes the energy department, Nasa, Housing and Urban Development, and the National Science Foundation.

And they noted, as others have, that there will be minimal disruption to the Medicare health insurance program for retirees and the Medicaid program for people with low incomes. Those have their own dedicated funding to pay benefits.

But the center expects both programmes could experience administrative difficulties. Likewise, community health centres and services such as at-home care could be disrupted.

It also sounds as if we might be headed into new territory. With the federal workforce already reduced significantly under Trump, they warned, this shutdown could be worse than past ones in terms of disruptions and delays.

Image source, Getty Images

The US president is currently making an announcement at the White House, it's about access to prescription drugs.

You can click watch live at the top of this page to follow along.

And we will bring you any updates relevant to the looming government shutdown.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Wyoming Senator John Brasso, like many Republicans, is putting the looming shutdown on the Democrats.

"We need to keep the government open," he tells a group of us here on Capitol Hill.

He says the government shouldn’t shut down and says Democrats will have the chance to vote to keep the government open later today.

Democrats want an agreement to renew the government health-insurance subsidies for low-income individuals that expire at the end of the year. Brasso is among the Republicans against renewing them.

"Those were set up as temporary and were supposed to end when Covid ended, and Covid has ended," Brasso says.

Ana Faguy
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Ana Faguy / BBC

I'm here on Capitol Hill, which is eerily quiet. The hallways are basically empty, with very few lawmakers in sight.

But there’s still a palpable tension in the air, as a government shutdown becomes more likely as the hours pass.

At 12:01 ET Wednesday, the government will shutter if Republicans and Democrats can’t come to an agreement as to how to keep the government open.

As of now the parties, and the chambers, disagree on how to proceed.

And lawmakers walking the halls of the Capitol don’t seem confident a solution is imminent.

Stick with us and we’ll bring you the latest.

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Washington DC

Image source, Reuters

Minority Leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer has just finished speaking on the Senate floor.

He says that Republicans have not tried to negotiate a way out of the impasse between the two parties that could lead to a government shutdown.

"We stand at the precipice of a government shutdown because Republicans are not serious about keeping the government open," Schumer said.

Republicans have argued that it's Democrats that are "holding hostage" the American people by not passing what's known as a clean Continuing Resolution.

That would extend the current government funding for a short time period while the two sides work through a longer appropriations process.

Schumer said Republicans have until midnight to "get serious" with Democrats on healthcare and funding the government. He added, "But right now they're not even talking to us seriously, they're sort of in la la land."

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House Democrats have just held a briefing about the looming government funding deadline and their core concerns with the spending bill.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are focusing on getting back funding for healthcare services.

"We're not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people, not now, not ever," Jeffries says.

"We're here to cancel the cuts. We're here to lower the cost. We're here to save the health care of the American people."

For context, Trump's sprawling budget bill included additional restrictions to Medicaid, the healthcare programme relied upon by millions of disabled and low-income Americans.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 12 million Americans could lose their health coverage by the end of the next decade as a result of changes.

• Read more: What are the key items in Trump's sprawling budget bill?

There's no shortage of political reaction to the looming government shutdown. So, let's take a look at what some of the key players have said.

"We have very large differences on healthcare, and on their ability to undo whatever budget we agree to," the US Senate's top Democrat Chuck Schumer said.

Meanwhile, Vice-President JD Vance told the media: "You don't use your policy disagreements as leverage."

You can listen to more of what they had to say in the video above.

Anthony Zurcher and James FitzGerald

Not all of government will shut down if Congress doesn't pass a spending bill by midnight.

Border protection, in-hospital medical care, law enforcement and air-traffic control would be expected to continue to operate during the stoppage.

While social security and Medicare cheques would still be sent out, benefit verification and card issuance could stop.

Generally, in a shutdown, essential workers continue as normal - some of them without pay for the time being - but government employees deemed non-essential are temporarily put on unpaid leave. In the past, these workers have then been paid retrospectively.

That means that services like the food assistance programme, federally-funded pre-school, the issuing of student loans, food inspections, and operations at national parks are expected to be curtailed or closed.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

In terms of the substantive demands from each side, Republicans want a short-term extension of current spending levels – essentially kicking the legislative can a bit farther down the road.

They're happy with the way things are going, particularly since the Trump administration has been implementing spending cuts on its own, without the help of congressional budget-setters.

Democrats want that practice to end.

What's the point, they wonder, with negotiating spending-level agreements if Trump will just ignore them?

They also want a firm agreement to renew the government health-insurance subsidies for low-income individuals that expire at the end of the year – something Republicans have been reluctant to do so far.

Those are the negotiating positions of both sides, but government shutdown fights are about more than policy – they're about politics.

Republicans think they have the political high ground.

The party that makes demands in exchange for keeping the government open – in this case the Democrats – typically gets the lion's share of the blame when a shutdown happens.

Trump and Republican congressional leaders are already claiming that they are the reasonable ones.

They're the ones, they say, who simply want to buy more time to negotiate without the adverse consequences of a shutdown.

Of course, Democrats don't see it that way.