On the 13th day of the government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson escalated his criticism of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, accusing Democrats of delaying a reopening until after a planned “No Kings” rally on October 18 in Washington, D.C. Johnson claimed that Democrats were prioritizing the demands of their activist base over the American people, alleging that the rally is backed by “Pro‑Hamas, Antifa” groups and even saying some House Democrats were selling event T-shirts. He argued that Democrats were reluctant to reopen before the rally because they “can’t face their rabid base.”

Alongside those accusations, Johnson attacked Democrats’ budget proposals—particularly foreign aid allocations for climate work in Honduras and civic programs overseas—as “wasteful.” He also defended Republicans from criticism, pushing back on the White House and Treasury Secretary’s framing of the shutdown, and demanding that Schumer and his caucus stop what he called partisan obstruction.

Some Democrats broke from party discipline amid the impasse. Senator John Fetterman (D‑Pa.) publicly urged both sides to end the shutdown immediately and criticized political posturing. Moderate senators like Catherine Cortez Masto (D‑Nev.) and Angus King (I‑Maine) supported a GOP stopgap funding measure to reopen government—but that measure failed in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed.