USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1

A notice on top of its website says "the well has run dry."

Last Updated: October 26, 2025, 5:58 PM EDT

The Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website warning that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1.

"Bottom line, the well has run dry," reads the notice, which also blames Democrats for the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers remain at a stalemate on finding a government funding solution. The Senate has continued to fail to advance bill that would reopen the government until Nov. 21. The House remains out of session next week.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
Oct 10, 2025, 11:47 AM EDT

Johnson says Trump is reviewing options to pay troops amid shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that President Donald Trump is "working on ways" to ensure the military troops get paid during the shutdown, but did not provide specifics.

"The executive branch, the president is working on ways that he may have as well to ensure that troops are paid. The Republican Party stands for paying the troops. The Democrats are the ones that are demonstrating over and over and over now eight times that you don't want troops to be paid," Johnson said at a news conference in the Capitol.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on the tenth day of a government shutdown on October 10, 2025 in Washington.
Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Johnson appeared frustrated as he was asked by ABC News' Jay O'Brien why he hasn't made separate legislation to ensure troops are paid.

"We did that. We passed the bill. We have voted eight times. Republicans have voted eight times to pay troops, to pay the civilian workforce, to pay TSA agents, border patrol, air traffic controllers and all the rest. We've done it," he said.

The House canceled votes for next Tuesday and the lower chamber has no immediate plans to return to Washington, D.C.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller and John Parkinson

Oct 09, 2025, 10:25 PM EDT

Senate leaves town for weekend as government shutdown continues

After a seventh failed vote Thursday on a short-term funding bill to reopen the government, senators left town and don’t plan to return to D.C. until next Tuesday, even as the government remains shut down with no end in sight.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to member of the media before voting at the Capitol on the ninth day of the government shutdown in Washington, Oct. 9, 2025.
Allison Robbert/AP

What does this mean? The government shutdown will last at least two weeks. The next chance to vote to reopen the government is Oct. 14. Members of the military are guaranteed to miss their paycheck on Oct. 15.

What’s next? The Senate has scheduled a vote for Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. on the "clean" short-term funding bill to reopen the government, passed by the House GOP. This will be the eighth time the Senate will hold a vote on the measure.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

Oct 09, 2025, 3:43 PM EDT

IRS walks back memo promising back pay for furloughed workers

In an email to staff Thursday morning, the IRS is now walking back guidance it provided in a previous internal memo to staff that stated furloughed employees were entitled to receive back pay, according to an email obtained by ABC News.

In the email with the subject line "Furlough guidance update," IRS staff were told that a previous memo "incorrectly stated the nature of the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 as it relates to compensation for non-pay and non-duty status," and says OMB would provide future guidance.

A general view of the U.S. Capitol at sunrise during a continued partial shutdown of the federal government in Washington, October 6, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

On Thursday, the IRS sent an agency-wide email with guidance on furloughs included a line that stated the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 "requires" furloughed federal workers to receive back pay once funding is restored.

-ABC News' Will Steakin

Oct 09, 2025, 1:58 PM EDT

Senate again fails to advance clean funding bill, shutdown drags on with no end in sight

The Senate failed once again to advance the GOP clean short-term measure to fund the government for the seventh time by a vote of 54-45. It did not receive the necessary 60 votes to move forward.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul voted against the bill, breaking with his party yet again.

Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, as well as Independent Angus King of Maine, voted in favor. No other Democrats switched their vote.

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz missed the vote.

Earlier, the Senate failed to advance a Democratic-led funding bill that includes health care provisions by a vote of 47-50. This was the seventh time that effort has failed, too. Not one Republican supported it.

For now, the government funding stalemate continues with no clear end in sight, and the House remains out of session.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to members of the media as he walks to a Senate Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol, October 08, 2025 in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters the Senate will be in session on Friday, where we could see another vote on the dueling funding bills.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

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