Government shutdown updates: Judge lays out path for SNAP benefits

Jeffries continued to hold the Democratic line during the shutdown Thursday, insisting that their demands have not changed throughout the impasse.

"Over the last 30 days, we've said the same thing over and over and over again: We'll sit down with Republicans anytime, anyplace, anywhere, to reopen the government and enact a spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people," he said at a news conference.

Jeffries added that Democrats are "in this fight until we win this fight."

As lawmakers are set to receive their paychecks on Nov. 1, Jeffries has refused to reveal whether he will accept his congressional salary during the shutdown.

He told ABC News that each Democrat will have to make an individual decision but he intends to make his plans clear to his constituents in Brooklyn on or before Saturday.
-ABC News' John Parkinson

The Senate is now adjourned until Monday afternoon, which will mark the 34th day of the government shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune appeared exasperated in his calls for the Democrats to turn the lights back on in Washington, D.C.

"I hope … the pressure starts to intensify, and the consequences of keeping the government shut down become even more real for everybody that they will express, hopefully new interest in trying to come up with a path forward," Thune said.

Starting Nov. 1, SNAP benefits won't go out and open enrollment begins for Affordable Care Act plans with premiums expected to rise.

Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen objected to Thursday's adjournment on the Senate floor. The effort was ultimately overridden by Republicans in the upper chamber.

"The dysfunction in this place is going to have real consequences when people lose their health care coverage, and I'm done. I am just done. We need to figure this out, work in a bipartisan way, not next week, but right now," Rosen said.

Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, walking away from the cameras, was asked if she believes the Senate should be leaving now when SNAP benefits are due to expire.

"No," she said. "We'd love for the Democrats to open the government."

As Americans enrolled in Obamacare begin to look up the price of their coverage for 2026, some enrollees like Beth Dryer in Norfolk, Virginia, are realizing they have no other option than to cancel it altogether.

Dryer is the executive director of 757 Creative ReUse Center, and in 2015 she was paying just shy of $80 for her premium. She hadn't looked up her 2026 options until Thursday, and the spike was shocking.

"This says I now have an advanced premium tax credit of $0, so it looks like I have no tax credit for this so far for next year," she began to read from the enrollment site. "Okay, so it looks like the same plan that I have this year would now be $425.03 a month next year, which is completely out of my budget."

A premium four times as much as she'd been paying and more than she had anticipated.

Asked how that made her feel seeing such a spike, she said "not great" and added that she's "absolutely" going to have to cancel her coverage, leaving her in a "really scary" situation.

"I can put money in a savings account and use that if I absolutely have to, but otherwise there's no more routine care for me. There's no mammography, there's no annual visits, and I know that there are a lot of things that run in my family that you know could get me right about this age, all the women in my family have had breast cancer, so I know that's on the table for me, but I feel pretty helpless at this moment," she said.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday was asked by a reporter why the administration can't move funds to ensure at least some SNAP benefits are paid, as the program will run out of money on Nov. 1.

"The unfortunate reality -- and we're starting to see this with our aviation industry, we're going to find out the hard way with SNAP benefits -- is the American people are already suffering, and the suffering is going to get a lot worse," Vance said.

Vance argued President Donald Trump is trying make the shutdown as "painless as possible" and said "the Democrats are acting irresponsibly."

"Right now, this government, this administration, we're like guys running around with a leak in a dam wall trying to plug it with bubble gum ... Why don't the Democrats just stop this entire charade and reopen the government so that we don't have to try to make this thing work on a shoestring budget, which is what we're trying to do," Vance said.