Government shutdown updates: Senate vote marks step towards ending federal shutdown

The Senate is angling to take a key test vote as early as Sunday night on a plan to reopen the government. Nothing is yet set in stone, but it seems the Senate is gearing up for a possible breakthrough on the 40th day of the shutdown.

The vote would be a big test to gauge whether lawmakers are ready to move forward with the current plan. The Senate is expected to vote on whether or not to begin debate on a short-term funding bill that would reopen the government. If enough Democrats vote on the bill, it'd be a sign that things are moving forward.

There is a growing sense of momentum that at least the number of Democrats needed to advance the bill are ready to vote for it.

At least 60 votes are needed to move the bill forward. In past votes, Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against the bill, and Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman and independent Angus King have voted for it. At least five more Democrats would have to vote in favor of the bill to advance it.

-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin

In a letter filed Sunday, the Trump administration told a federal appeals court that states were “unauthorized” to issue full SNAP benefits.

As of Friday, at least five states said they already began issuing benefits, and another five said they began the process of issuing full payments after the USDA signaled than it would begin sending funds.

A lawyer for the DOJ argued that those states are “responsible for the consequences of that action.”

“To the extent that States decided to submit their files early — knowing that Defendants had appealed the Court’s injunction and intended to seek a stay, and in the face of direction to the contrary — they are responsible for the consequences of that action.”

In a late night published Saturday, the The Trump administration demanded that any states working to provide full food stamp benefits via SNAP stop any steps they were taking to do so.

-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous

Trump offered a bit more insight into his proposal that direct subsidies should go directly to the American people to pay for health care rather than having funds sent to insurance companies through the ACA.

Trump said Republicans should give money to Americans through their Health Savings Account -- special savings accounts which saw expanded access through Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed over the summer.

Expanded access to people who have certain ACA health plans, specifically Bronze and Catastrophic tier plans, was provided through the OBBB.

“Republicans should give money DIRECTLY to your personal HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS that I expanded in our GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump said on his social media platform on Sunday morning.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

The Trump administration, in a late-night memo published on Saturday, demanded that any states working to provide full food stamp benefits via SNAP stop any steps they were taking to do so.

The Department of Agriculture threatened to impose financial penalties on states that do not “comply” quickly with their new orders.

“States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” Patrick Penn, the Deputy Secretary of Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services for USDA, wrote in the memo.

“Failure to comply with this memorandum may result in USDA taking various actions, including cancellation of the Federal share of State administrative costs and holding States liable for any overissuances that result from the noncompliance,” he added.

The new USDA directive comes as the U.S. Supreme Court granted the U.S. Department of Agriculture an administrative stay to pause SNAP benefits while the legal battles over them continue to play out.

States including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been moving swiftly to release SNAP benefits to residents.

-ABC News' Steven Portnoy and Isabella Murray