Lawmakers on Wednesday were coming to grips with what a government shutdown will mean for renewable energy projects, disaster resilience and scientific research — and responding in real time as the impacts on those priorities came into sharper focus.
As senators were stepping into the Capitol on Wednesday morning, workers at EPA, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior were entering their offices unclear about their employment status or their agencies’ ability to continue working on permits, studies and regulations.
National parks were opening their gates with skeleton crew staffing, and farmers across the country were wondering how they will be able to submit applications for federal funding.
The authorization for the National Flood Insurance Program had expired at midnight, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief funds were dwindling with no backup money in sight.
Each of those shutdown dynamics is affecting Americans across the country and across the political spectrum, but they were not immune from the partisanship raging on Capitol Hill as lawmakers continue to play the shutdown blame game.
“[Democrats] have stalled the work of FEMA and they have prevented people from renewing or getting new flood insurance programs right now in the middle of this,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) during a morning press conference.
“It is dangerous, it is destructive and it is unconscionable to us that Chuck Schumer should do this, and could do this, for his personal political reasons,” Johnson said, referring to the Democratic leader from New York, who on Wednesday led his caucus for a third time in voting against a short-term funding bill crafted by Republicans.
(Left to right) Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) listen during a news conference at Capitol Hill on Wednesday. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP
The Senate will be out Thursday for Yom Kippur but back Friday. Republicans plan to hold votes on that same funding patch Friday and over the weekend as a way to hammer Democrats for their opposition. The GOP has repeatedly rejected an alternative Democratic bill.
As that drama plays out, a bipartisan group of senators have been talking about a deal on health care subsidies, a major sticking point, though a resolution does not seem close at hand.
The White House said Wednesday that additional layoffs of federal workers was “imminent,” arguing such actions were needed during the shutdown. Two labor unions representing federal workers have already filed suit, calling the anticipated firings illegal.
President Donald Trump said his administration could use the shutdown to target Democratic priorities, and as Johnson and Republican leaders were getting ready for their press conference, the White House followed through.
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, announced the administration was freezing roughly $18 billion slated for major transit projects in New York City, the home state of Congress’ Democratic leaders.
Then, as lawmakers huddled on the Senate floor discussing potential offramps to end the shutdown, Vought posted on X that the Trump administration is canceling nearly $8 billion “in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda” — with all of the funding being pulled from states that voted against President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
“This is a blatant attempt to punish the political opposition, but this won’t just hurt Democrats — it’ll hurt regular people just trying to get by, in red districts and blue districts alike,” said Senate Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.). “We’ve never had an administration work so hard to hurt the people they represent.”
‘Naked and brazen corruption’
Several Republican senators — including Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee in charge of the funding in question — declined to comment Wednesday afternoon, saying they did not know details about the cuts. Others were gleeful.
“Great!” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said on X.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) wrote, “Good. END THE GREEN NEW SCAM.”
Democrats seethed at the announcement. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who authored the technology-neutral energy tax credits that Democrats enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, said Vought’s approach of singling out Democratic-favored forms of energy “is the opposite” of technology-neutral.
“It’s politics-driven: Single people out, make a big production out of it, try to flex your muscles if you have a question about some state,” Wyden said in an interview.
“He can make up whatever fantasy-land language he wants to use, but technological neutrality is going to be the future of what we do in terms of energy policy, and that’s not a scam,” Wyden said.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) suggested the White House action is illegal because it appears to blatantly restrict funding based on politics.
Vought said the impacted projects would be in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
“Were they a little more careful, they would have sprinkled in a Republican state or two,” Schatz said. “I do not think this will hold up in court.”
One Democratic senator said it served as reason for Democrats to double down in support of their proposed funding bill, which the Senate rejected once again Wednesday, along with the Republican proposal. The Democratic continuing resolution contains language to prevent the White House from unilaterally canceling or repealing funds appropriated by Congress.
“Time to stiffen our spines and demand that we only fund a government that obeys the law,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who called the move to target only Democratic-led states “naked and brazen corruption.”
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) said on a call with reporters Wednesday that the shutdown could hamper the administration’s stated goal of increasing energy production and lowering Americans’ electricity bills.
“This is an administration that says they want to expedite new energy facilities. It ain’t happening if there aren’t people to process permits,” Casten said.
Flood insurance: ‘huge impact’
Until the National Flood Insurance Program is reauthorized, current and prospective homeowners will not be able to renew or buy flood insurance, which in some areas is required.
The Defense Production Act — which presidents have used to boost domestic production of everything from solar panels and heat pumps to critical minerals and Covid-19 vaccines — similarly lapsed overnight.
The House Financial Services Committee has jurisdiction over both programs. Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and other Republicans said Democrats were responsible for the shutdown and therefore the lapses in authorization because they voted against the GOP funding patch, which would have extended both programs. But Republicans voted against the Democratic funding patch, which also included those extensions.
“With Senate Democrats voting against this critical funding, the NFIP and DPA have now expired, hurting at-risk property owners across our nation and harming the ability for our government to speed up production of necessary supplies if there is a national security crisis,” Hill said in a statement.
Kennedy, who often tries to extend the NFIP ahead of its expiration, said he would not try to renew it this time because “it’s pointless.” He said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has “made it very clear” that he would object to a request for unanimous consent to reauthorize the program, as he has in the past.
Asked Wednesday if he would in fact object, Paul declined to comment. He has called the NFIP a federal subsidy for expensive beach homes.
The NFIP lapse “will have a huge impact on the housing market, which is already depressed,” Kennedy said. “Rand’s objection is silly, and he knows it’s silly, but there’s not much I can do about it.”
Disaster funding
FEMA’s disaster relief fund has about $5 billion remaining, per FEMA’s most recent funding report, but that balance could evaporate with the next major storm, and there would be nothing left over to cover other disaster costs.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) spoke about the need for more funding on the Senate floor Wednesday, a few days after the anniversary of Hurricane Helene’s rampage through his home state.
He noted that FEMA’s major-disasters account had about $1.4 billion remaining last month and that the agency approved $7.5 billion from that account the previous month alone.
The remaining funding “is dangerously low,” Tillis said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re in a shutdown posture right now,” he said. “We are not prepared for another major disaster should it hit this weekend, nor do we have the money that we need to help communities across this country.”
Most FEMA and National Weather Service employees are typically excluded from furloughs during shutdowns, and agency employees have said they do not anticipate forecasting and response operations to be impacted by the shutdown.
Still, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee expressed alarm this week about potentially unforeseen impacts during the shutdown.
The Trump administration has “gutted forecasting offices and left out to dry the National Weather Service employees who work to keep Americans safe and informed in the path of severe weather,” said ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.).
Reporter Amelia Davidson contributed.
