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

The Senate floor is open Thursday, but the chamber is not voting due to Yom Kippur. The Senate is, however, expected to vote again Friday on both the Democrat funding bill that includes health care provisions and the short-term government funding bill.

As of now, however, Thune said he is not expecting the Senate to engage in weekend work.

"Unlikely," Thune said Thursday when asked if he'd hold votes this weekend.

Thune suggested he could be open to a meeting with Minority Leader Schumer over the weekend, but it would depend on its purpose.
"We'll see, if the meeting is focused around just a photo op along the lines of what they would try to get out of the White House meeting, I'm not sure there's a lot of purpose in that. But if they want to actually come forward and talk about how to end this thing, we'll see," he said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Johnson defended the president's threats to fire federal government workers or withhold funding from congressionally-approved projects on Thursday.

The speaker argued that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats blocking the House-passed bill handed "the keys to the kingdom" to Trump.

Johnson said Trump and Vought are "going to look to see for the administration's priorities first, sure that those are funded."

"And so that's some those are some very serious determinations that have to be made. We want to protect hard-working federal workers, and these are people who protect all the rest of us," Johnson said.

"Is it constitutional? Is it lawful? Is it part of our system? Of course it is. It always has been," he added without giving more details.

-ABC News' John Parkinson

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday the threat of mass firings and ending federal programs is "very real" and there will likely be "thousands" of federal workers laid off during the government shutdown.

Leavitt would not give specifics when speaking with reporters nor would she comment on Trump's social media post where he said he was meeting with Vought to determine which "Democratic Agencies" would be cut.

"We're going to look at agencies that don't align, align with the administration's values that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollar. And look, unfortunately, these conversations are happening because we don't have any money coming into the federal government right now," she said.

Leavitt spoke with Fox News' "America's Newsroom" and said the threat of mass firings was "very real" and not a negotiating tactic.

Leavitt on Fox indicated that layoffs and cuts are necessary because of accounting, however, the White House has not given specifics or the math on what services are at risk.

White House officials have not answered questions on how firing people who are not getting paid will help with the accounting issues.

-ABC News' Karen Travers and Michelle Stoddart

The Office of Management and Budget encouraged federal employees to create out-of-office email messages denouncing "Democrat Senators" for causing the government shutdown, according to messages reviewed by ABC News.

"Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume," the text of an email template provided to furloughed Department of Labor employees says.

Some furloughed federal employees at the Department of Education reported their out-of-office replies were automatically reset to mimic the language above.

"[They] did it after everyone left," one Department of Ed staffer told ABC News.

Several federal workers expressed concern to ABC News that adding the messages to their email accounts would violate the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities during their official duties.

-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Arthur Jones II, Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin