The Trump administration instructed government agencies and departments to proceed with an “orderly shutdown” as the Senate failed to pass a short-term government spending bill on Tuesday night.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought sent a memo to the heads of all executive departments and agencies on Tuesday, telling them to implement shutdown plans and blaming the shutdown on Senate Democrats. The Senate fell five votes short of passing a Republican-backed bill that would have maintained government spending for the next seven weeks.
“Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of [the funding bill] in the Senate due to Democrats’ insane policy demands, which include $1 trillion in new spending,” Vought wrote. “President Trump supports passage of H.R. 5371, but it is now clear that Democrats will prevent passage of this clean [continuing resolution] prior to 11:59pm tonight and force a government shutdown. As such, affected agencies should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.”
— Office of Management and Budget (@WHOMB) September 30, 2025
HR 5371, which would have maintained government funding at the level of the previous fiscal year, passed out of the House last month.
“It is unclear how long Democrats will maintain their untenable posture, making the duration of the shutdown difficult to predict,” Vought wrote. “Regardless, employees should report to work for their next regularly scheduled tour of duty to undertake orderly shutdown activities. We will issue another memorandum indicating that government functions should resume once the President has signed a bill providing for appropriations.”
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Vought stated that the OMB would provide further guidance to department heads as needed.
Ahead of the shutdown, Vought issued a memo instructing agencies and departments to prepare for significant reductions in force if a shutdown were to occur. The memo also stated that once funding is secured for the next fiscal year, agencies should move to “retain the minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions.”
The Senate is slated to reconvene on Wednesday morning to resume voting on government funding.
