USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1
A notice on top of its website says "the well has run dry."
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
White House budget director says workforce cuts 'have begun'
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a social media post that the administration is making good on its threat of mass firings of the federal workforce amid the government shutdown.
"The RIFs have begun," Vought wrote on X on Friday.
A spokesperson from the Office of Management and Budget confirmed that the reductions in force have begun and added that they are "substantial." OMB has not immediately responded to further inquiries about details on the mass firings.
It is not yet clear which agencies or federal workers have received the "Reduction in Force" notices.
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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