WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, meeting with budget director Russ Vought on Thursday to talk through "temporary or permanent" spending cuts that could set up a lose-lose dynamic for Democratic lawmakers.
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President Donald Trump speaks Tuesday in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.
Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget director, addresses members of the media Monday outside the West Wing at the White House in Washington.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters Thursday outside the White House in Washington.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., pauses Thursday during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington.
From Florida's Everglades to California's Golden Gate Bridge, the shutdown in photos
National Park Service law enforcement ranger Greg Freeman opens a locked gate closing vehicle access to the Shark Valley section of Florida's Everglades National Park on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, as he drives into the park. The U.S. government shutdown began after President Trump and Congress failed to reach a funding deal by Wednesday’s deadline. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers face furloughs and many offices closed. Congress is at an impasse, with Democrats demanding funding to save health care subsidies that are expiring and will send insurance costs soaring, while Republicans say a stop-gap government funding measure is a greater priority. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the Senate GOP whip, left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., right, arrive for a news conference with top Republicans on the government shutdown Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington.
A tourist stops to read a sign announcing that the Washington Monument is closed Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, the first day of a partial government shutdown, in Washington.
People look through fence Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, to get a glance at the Statue of Liberty in New York.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York walks to a news conference Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
People take photos Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, with a sign announcing that the Library of Congress in Washington is closed on the first day of a partial government shutdown.
People look at the Golden Gate Bridge outside the Fort Point National Historic Site, which is closed because of a government shutdown, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in San Francisco.
A sign alerting visitors that the Royal Palm Visitor Center is closed hangs in a display case reflecting the landscape Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, inside Florida's Everglades National Park.
Tourist view Independence Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, from outside a barricade in Philadelphia.
Christy Lock and Curt Rohrman of Houston get a phone call Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, informing them their tickets for a tram ride to the top of Gateway Arch in St. Louis are canceled because of the federal government shutdown and that they will receive a refund.
American flags fly at sunrise Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Kaitlin and Kurt Wilhelm of Sandusky, Ohio, foreground, and others gather Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, on the rocky coast in Acadia National Park, Maine, to watch the sunrise.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., gives a tour of the Capitol to a group of students from New York on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Washington after their previously scheduled tour was canceled because of the government shutdown.
A visitor walks at sunrise on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., center, flanked by Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., left, and Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., speaks Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, on the steps of the Capitol in Washington to insist that Republicans include an extension of expiring health care benefits as part of a government funding compromise.
The sun sets Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, behind the Capitol and Washington Monument in Washington, seen from inside the Capitol as a government funding vote fails in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks to reporters Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington as the U.S. government was on the brink of the first federal government shutdown in almost seven years.
Layne Morrison, left, of Washington and Courtney Creek of Silver Spring, Md., who were let go from their jobs with the Education Department and a USAID funded grant respectively, hold signs about the looming government shutdown Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, during a rally with former federal employees on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York listens Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, as he speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
Visitors tour the Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington as the government lurched toward a shutdown.
Stairs lead to the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, just days before federal money ran out with the end of the fiscal year.
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.
The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunrise Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, as cars drive on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington during rush hour traffic.
A sign announces that the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington is closed Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, the first day of a partial government shutdown.
