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In today's issue:

▪ Shutdown enters third week

▪ Media outlets rebuff Hegseth policy

▪ Obama steps up political fight

▪ Rubio’s star rises

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Wednesday marks two weeks since the government shut down, and lawmakers are increasingly bracing for the standoff to drag on as Republicans apply added pressure.

The Senate on Tuesday evening — for the eighth time — failed to advance the House-passed “clean” funding stopgap bill championed by congressional Republicans. The vote ended in a 49-45margin, with the only difference being Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who voted in favor of the resolution every other time it came to the floor, missing the vote.

But the vote marked a first since the shutdown began: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) did not allow lawmakers to consider the Democrats’ alternative funding measure, which would permanently extend enhanced health insurance premium subsidies and restore nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.

“There is only one choice: You either vote for the clean [continuing resolution] to reopen the government or you vote for the shutdown. They have no cover,” a Senate Republican aide told The Hill’s Alexander Bolton ahead of the vote.

Thune later remarked: “While military families and government workers may be deeply stressed, at least life is getting better every day for Senate Democrats.” The GOP leader was referencing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer‘s (D-N.Y.) comments from last week that “every day gets better for us,” referring to Democrats. Republicans have lambasted the comments.

As the GOP rachets up pressure, Capitol Hill is increasingly signaling it’s ready for a prolonged shutdown, The Hill’s Al Weavers reports. The Trump administration has also taken steps to neutralize pressure points that otherwise could incentivize lawmakers to budge.

▪The Hill: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.): ‘We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history’

President Trump over the weekend directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to avoid the possibility of military service members missing their first paychecks, which go out on Wednesday. The Department of Defense later said it found $8 billion in unspent funding to fulfill Trump’s demand, as Johnson holds firm in refusing to move a stand-alone bill to pay troops.

After some congressional Democrats questioned the legality of the administration repurposing previously appropriated funds to pay service members, the Speaker on Tuesday dared them to challenge the move in court.

“If the Democrats want to go to court and challenge troops being paid, bring it. OK,” Johnson said during a press conference at the Capitol.

▪The New York Times: “Air Traffic Controllers Reject Credit for Ending the Last Shutdown”

In an earlier move to ward off potential pressure over the shutdown, the White House last week said it would use money from tariff revenue to provide funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, before it was set to lapse.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the move at the time as a “creative solution,” adding the administration would “not allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry because of the Democrats' political games.”

The White House, Senate and House GOP leadership all appear to be in lockstep on holding the line in the shutdown standoff, while Democrats refuse to back down on their demands regarding Affordable Care Act tax credits and Medicaid funding.

▪The Associated Press: Trump and White House budget chief Russell Vought are making this a government shutdown unlike any other.

Johnson, canceling previously scheduled votes in the lower chamber and keeping the House in an extended recess during the shutdown, has seemingly cosigned some hard-line stances long favored by the conservative House Freedom Caucus. The Hill’s Emily Brooks wrote in Tuesday’s The Movement newsletter that the caucus has urged House Republicans in the past to pass a “righteous bill,” then try to jam the Senate by leaving town.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said on a recent press call with Johnson that the conservative group’s backing of his decisions “reflects how far we’ve come as a movement from a small group of conservatives … to a leading voice shaping the direction of the policy in the country.”

Democrats, meanwhile, appear unmoved by the GOP’s tactics.

Schumer — Trump and GOP lawmakers’ most frequent punching bag over the shutdown — on Tuesday shared on the social platform X an ABC News story about “vanishing” rural hospitals.

“Trump’s policies are devastating health care in rural communities,” Schumer wrote. “And now, Republicans have shut down the government instead of fixing the health care crisis they’ve created.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) echoed those words, writing on X that Democrats are “holding the line to save” health care on Day 14 of the “Trump-Republican Shutdown.” The House Democratic leader also told reporters following a press conference that the “American people have been clear that Republicans shut the government down.”

Recent polling is generally split on who deserves the most blame.

While Senate Democrats did not have a chance to vote on their stopgap proposal Tuesday — which would fund the government through Oct. 31,........

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