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NATaT December 2024 Annual Meeting
Jerry B. Crabtree, Heidi Fought (Ohio ED), Past President Neil Sheradin (Michigan Ed), and NATaT President Dave Sanko (PA ED)
NATaT Weekly Legislative Report
October 27, 2025
Congressional Outlook
Day 27 of the government shutdown features more of the same, no end in sight, and little to no negotiating by Republicans and Democrats. As October comes to an end, several issues may help bring lawmakers on both sides of the shutdown to the negotiating table.
Last week, the Senate voted for its twelfth time on the House-passed, Republican-led Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026 (H.R. 5371). The vote failed to meet the 60-vote threshold and will likely continue to do so without changes to attract Democratic votes in the Senate. Various issues could create enough traction to end what has become the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history. Today’s Legislative Update will provide an update on the following issues with critical local community impact: Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, paychecks to federal workers, including servicemembers, and SNAP benefits, all of which will face challenges if not addressed by November 1.
On ACA, Democrats see this as the most critical issue and are committed to remaining dug in until their counterparts make a compromise. The leadership, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), believe that pressure from constituents who will soon see significant increases in Obamacare 2026 health insurance premiums without congressional intervention will ultimately bring the shutdown to an end. Inaction by Congress could result in as many as 24 million Americans who use federal healthcare, not provided by a job or Medicaid, seeing their annual insurance premiums rise by as much as 30 percent. Millions of Americans will begin learning the gravity of changes to their 2026 health insurance premiums when the Trump administration plans to open the Healthcare.gov browser ahead of the November 1 open enrollment date. Members in both chambers can expect to hear from their constituents in droves when this occurs. Republican lawmakers expect to draft a plan of their own that could extend health insurance provisions while imposing certain restrictions on other portions of the ACA. House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) noted that Republicans want to craft their own proposal to resolve the looming healthcare issue for millions of Americans. The plan would focus on removing what the Chairman and others called “phantom” Obamacare auto-enrollees. Democrats argue that changes to auto-enrollment would disproportionately impact low-income Americans. The status of auto-enrollees was a key issue during the One Big Beautiful Bill Act negotiations, and Senate Democrats successfully removed the provision after a ruling from the Senate parliamentarian.
More than 700,000 federal workers are on furlough, and some of the most critical federal workers are currently working without pay. Last week, the Senate voted and failed on two similar but competing measures to pay some federal employees during the ongoing shutdown. The two conflicting bills, one by Republicans, who wanted to pay only essential workers during shutdowns, while Democrats proposed paying all federal employees and preventing mass layoffs by Trump's OMB, both failed, sending the upper chamber back to the drawing board and leaving federal workers without a paycheck. The Department of Defense announced its acceptance of an anonymous $130 million donation to partially cover troop pay. The status of troop payments for October 31’s paycheck is uncertain. The administration shifted research funds to ensure that servicemembers would not miss their mid-month paycheck. The total reported by White House officials for the mid-October paycheck was $6.5 billion, although there was no indication on how the Department will allocate the donation. Other essential workers who ensure the operations of airports nationwide, including air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees, will continue to work without pay during the government shutdown. Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego airports reported flight delays due to staffing issues, and the Federal Aviation Administration warned that staffing concerns could result in delays at major airports, including Dallas, Philadelphia, and New York.
Funding for two major food and nutrition assistance programs could lapse if the shutdown continues. A total of 42 million people relying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will lose their benefits on November 1. When the shutdown began, the Trump administration shifted $300 million in tariff revenue to keep the 7 million Americans receiving aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program funded. In a recent memo, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the 42 million Americans receiving food stamps through the SNAP program would not receive benefits for the month of November during the shutdown. Currently, the SNAP contingency fund has only $5 billion of the $9 billion needed to cover November benefits fully.
Until lawmakers find common ground, the shutdown will continue. Some Democrats have said they want President Donald Trump to engage them in negotiations to end the shutdown, though he has mostly left it to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The longer the shutdown goes, the more alternatives begin to circulate to end the gridlock. One idea would be to fund the government through another full-year continuing resolution at funding levels from the Biden administration. Implementing this strategy could result in the loss of Community Project Funding and Congressionally Directed Spending in the House and Senate, the process known as earmarks for local communities across the country. A full-year CR would mean cuts to many agencies and would prove incredibly challenging to pass through the House. All told, neither side in the negotiation wants a year-long CR and sees the option as a last resort.
The Senate may hold additional shutdown-related votes on the Pay Our Military Act (S.3030) and Keep America Flying Act (S.3031), which would fund paychecks for military, FAA, and TSA personnel. Further, the Senate will also take votes to terminate the emergency designations used to justify many of the global tariffs put in place by the Trump Administration, as well as vote on additional judicial nominations. Interestingly, the Senate has now taken 587 roll call votes in 2025, the most votes year-to-date in the last 48 years. The Senate will also vote on the nominations of Rebecca Taibleson
to be United States Circuit Judge for the Seventh Circuit and Bill Lewis to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama.
There will be nine Senate committee hearings and meetings this week. Notably, on Wednesday the Energy and Natural Resources Committee
will hold a hearing on Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act which requires consideration of how federal projects impact historic sites; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) will hold a hearing on maintaining U.S. competitiveness in biotechnology; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will meet to hear more about accusations of online censorship by large tech companies; and on Thursday the HELP Committee will meet again to consider the nomination of Casey Means to be the Surgeon General of the United States.
Week in Review
The federal government is still shut down. Here's what that means in your community
Trump administration won’t tap emergency funds to pay food aid
Effort to pay at least some federal workers fails in Senate
Vought promised to use the shutdown to shutter the bureaucracy. It didn’t go as planned.
DOD accepts anonymous $130M donation to partially cover troop pay
Speaker Johnson says GOP working on Republican health care plan amid shutdown
6 ways the shutdown is about to get worse
Trump finalizes trade deals with 2 Southeast Asian countries
Trump says he received an MRI during trip to Walter Reed medical center
Bird flu's comeback raises fears about readiness