Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, October 15th, 2025.

This is USA Today's The Excerpt.

Today, another failed vote means the government shutdown continues.

It was a rocky Tuesday amid peace proceedings in the Middle

East and the Medal of Freedom is awarded to Charlie Kirk. The federal government's partial

shutdown has reached a 15th day. The Senate yesterday rejected a potential funding deal for the

eighth time. Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget is vowing to batten

down the hatches and write out the shutdown while continuing layoffs.

More than 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed in order not to report to work.

Employees deemed essential to public safety, including military personnel, law enforcement officers,

and air traffic controllers, among others, must work without pay until a budget deal is

reached. For members of the military, today is payday, and President Donald Trump has insisted that

active duty troops should be paid regardless of the shutdown. He said on Truth Social that he's

using his authority to direct Pete Heggseth to use all available funds to pay the troops today.

He did not identify funding sources. As for getting the

government to reopen, Democrats are pushing to insure tax breaks for 24 million Americans who buy

insurance through the Affordable Care Act. The Senate Dems want to make the tax breaks permanent,

which would otherwise expire at the end of the year. Republicans and the president say they're

open to considering a fix for the expiring

ACA tax breaks but want the issue addressed separately from the ongoing budget impasse.

You can stay with all the latest on usat today.com.

A day after his trip to the Middle East to celebrate a ceasefire agreement, President Donald

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