Government shutdown updates: Leavitt says Trump exploring cutting aid to Portland

The majority of Americans blame the president and congressional Republicans for the federal shutdown, according to a poll released Thursday.

The Washington Post survey found that 47% of Americans think Trump and the GOP are responsible for the ongoing shutdown, while 30% said it was the Democrats. Roughly 23% of Americans said they were not sure who was to blame.

"In an open-ended question, those blaming Trump and Republicans cited a refusal to compromise, the party's control of the presidency and Congress, and Trump's actions," the Post said.

The poll was conducted on Oct. 1. They surveyed 1,010, and the margin of error was +/- 3.5%.

-ABC News' Brittany Shepherd

On day two of the government shutdown, President Donald Trump said he has a meeting scheduled Thursday with OMB Director Russ Vought to determine which agencies he "recommends" be cut-- either temporarily or permanently.

In his post, Trump references Vought through the lens of 'PROJECT 2025 Fame' — suggesting that the director, who was a key architect of the controversial federal policy agenda, could take inspiration from that blueprint, which had a vision for mass federal layoffs.

"I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent," Trump wrote on his social media platform.

He called the shutdown an "unprecedented opportunity."

--ABC News' Isabella Murray

The Senate will be out in observance of Yom Kippur on Thursday after it adjourned Wednesday without reaching a deal to end the shutdown.

The next votes scheduled for Friday afternoon, when the Senate is expected to once again take up two bills related to government funding: the Democratic proposal that includes health care provisions and the Republican stopgap bill.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening called on Republicans to use the first shutdown in almost 7 years to cull potential "dead wood" from within the federal government.

"Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud," Trump said on social media, a quote later shared by official White House accounts.

"Billions of Dollars can be saved," Trump added.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Wednesday told reporters that layoffs of some federal employees were "imminent."

"These are unfortunate consequences to a government shutdown," Leavitt said on Wednesday.