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Government Shutdown As GOP, Dems Deadlock On Spending; Sen. Chris Coons, (D-DE), Is Interviewed About Government Shutdown; Government Shuts Down After Lawmakers Fail To Reach Funding Deal; Republicans & Democrats Blame Each Other For Govt. Shutdown; Schumer: GOP Must Stop Delaying Answers On Heath Care; Oregon, Portland Sue Trump Admin Over Natl. Guard Deployment; Trump Claims Portland Looks Like "Word War Two" In Speech To Generals. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator --

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE), APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: To continue in the direction -- to continue in the direction that President Trump and congressional Republicans are taking our country is to mean to turn our backs on the health care of tens of millions of Americans.

BOLDUAN: But it is extending funding as funding stance. That is by the definition of what a clean CR is, as I've covered you and Congress for so many wonderful years. That is the definition of a clean CR of what is coming over from the House though. And three Democrats last night in the Senate, they voted to support it. And their reasoning was this, Senator Cortez Masto, "This administration doesn't care about Nevadans, but I do.

And that is why I cannot support a costly shutdown that would hurt Nevada families and hand even more power to a reckless administration." Angus King, "The irony, the paradox is by shutting the government down, we're actually giving Trump more power. And that was why I voted yes." What say you?

COONS: Kate, I --

BOLDUAN: -- Are they wrong?

COONS: Kate, I respect my -- Kate, I respect my colleagues back in March led by Senator Schumer and last night who voted against a government shutdown because they're afraid. They're concerned about what President Trump and reckless Republicans might do with the additional power and because of the costs on the millions of families --

BOLDUAN: But you are not?

COONS: -- of those who are in our armed forces. I am concerned, absolutely. I don't want our government to be shut down, but I'm more concerned about the cost to Americans health care of continuing in the direction Republicans have put us on. When they passed the so called Big Beautiful Bill months ago, they imposed big changes in Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and those are the backbone of what makes possible health insurance for tens of millions of Americans.

Kate this will affect all Americans. If there's more folks who can't afford health insurance, they'll show up in the emergency rooms sicker. And the emergency room wait times will get longer. The wait times for ambulances and paramedics will get longer. The cost burdens on hospitals will get higher.

Later this morning, I'm meeting with the representatives of all the hospitals in Delaware. When we spoke several months ago, they said without a change in direction, they're facing huge losses, hundreds of millions of dollars. It's time for us to change direction and to protect Americans health care. And yes, while moving ahead with the government on the direction the Republicans have set fits the definition of a clean CR. I'm fighting for us to change direction and to restore some of these deep cuts to Americans health care so Americans get healthier, not sicker.

BOLDUAN: Senator Chris Coons, tough choices ahead. Thanks for your time.

New hour of CNN News Central starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, shut down frenzy. You just heard Senator Coons. Everyone's going on T.V. this morning pointing fingers. The vice president, the House speaker, the Senate minority leader, they are talking over but not really to each other. Where will this land in the next few hours?

Acting real, but not, not really. The AI actress sending shock waves through Hollywood. She is not real really. And the worst leadership in the world. Scathing words inside the WNBA.

The feud brewing just as the finals get underway.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, this is CNN News Central.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, the federal government is officially closed for business. The funding to keep it open ran out at midnight after Congress failed to reach a deal and no one knows exactly when it might reopen at this point. The blame game and overdrive as you heard is hundreds of thousands of are being furloughed today. Democrats say they won't sign on to any funding bill without an extension of Obamacare subsidies that affect about 22 million Americans, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Republicans say they won't put that on the table unless Democrats agree to a seven week stopgap funding bill.

Just moments ago, Senator -- Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer speaking with our John Berman saying he believes the fallout will force the GOP back to the bargaining table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Republicans thought that they could barrel us into a shutdown because they didn't want to protect the health care of the American people. Well, now they've seen they can't bully us, they can't barrel us. They don't have the votes to push their partisan bill through that did nothing to protect American health care. So the solution now is for both sides to sit down and come to an agreement that protects American health care.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:05]

SIDNER: We're also going to hear more from Republican leaders next hour when they hold a news conference. President Trump has not commented since the shutdown began, but he has says a lot of good can come from it and he's threatening to use it to fire more federal workers and cut programs Democrats care about. CNN's Arlette Saenz joining us now from Capitol Hill.

I guess the question is what happens now?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, we're nine hours into this shutdown and there really is no clear end in sight with big questions about how long this will last and how exactly lawmakers will get out of the first shutdown in nearly seven years. What we have heard from Democrats and Republicans throughout the morning on television airwaves is this blame game going on as they're each trying to paint responsibility, point responsibility for the shutdown on the other party. Now, Schumer was on our air just a short while ago, but we've also heard from House Speaker Mike Johnson, who this morning talked about how the government shutdown now paves the way for President Trump and his team to go through with major potential changes to the federal government. He said that ultimately this is something that will backfire for Schumer. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: While a shutdown is very damaging for real American people who depend upon government services, it can provide an opportunity to downsize the scope and the scale of government, which is something that we've all always wanted to do. And so in a way, Chuck Schumer has now handed the keys to the kingdom, to the executive branch under President Trump to do some things that we would not otherwise be able to do because we would never get Democrat votes for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, there is some concern within the Democratic Party about the damage that the White House Budget Office could cause if there is a prolonged shutdown when it pertains to mass federal layoffs. So that is something that lawmakers likely will be keeping in their minds as this shutdown moves forward. Now, Republican leadership says they just plan to bring up that seven week funding bill for votes over and over, hoping that they will be able to peel off enough Democrats as this shutdown goes on. So far, there have only been three Democratic senators who caucus with Democrats who have sided with the GOP. That is John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Senator Angus King, who is an Independent. Republicans will need five more Democrats to get on board. Schumer is hoping that he can keep his party united on that front as they want to continue to push the GOP to come to negotiations over Obamacare subsidies, over reversing cuts to Medicaid and also getting commitments that the president won't claw back other funding that had already been approved by Congress. There will be a key moment coming in the next two hours when the Senate is set to vote once again on that seven week stopgap funding bill. But right now it does not seem that things are changing from last night.

It doesn't seem like this would be likely to pass. So still those questions remain about how exactly lawmakers will get out of this shutdown, whether Republicans will get enough Democrats on board or whether Democrats will push Republicans to the negotiating table specifically on the issue of health care.

SIDNER: Yes. And we saw the longest shutdown in history during President Trump's first term. We will see if this surpasses that 35- day mark. Arlette Saenz, we are waiting and wondering to see what happens next. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Kate.

BOLDUAN: And caught in the middle of this stalemate are hundreds of thousands of federal workers. And the director of the Congressional Budget Office is estimating that 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed every single day. This stretches on workers that fit into a category deemed essential. They'll stay on the job, but without getting paid until this is over. CNN's Rene Marsh is tracking more of the impacts of this shutdown.

And Rene, what are you seeing?

RENE MARSH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this morning thousands of federal workers are waking up with the news that they are furloughed. I want to give you just a snapshot of what the numbers look at -- look like at specific agencies. At Health and Human services, more than 32,000, at the State Department, more than 17,000, at Homeland Security, more than 14,000 in federal employees furloughed. And as you mentioned, the longer this drags out, the more painful this will be for Americans. There are essential programs that will remain intact despite the shutdown.

Social Security and Medicare benefits, unemployment, jobless benefits, the National Weather Service forecasts and Warnings, Veterans medical services, ICE Immigration Enforcement, all of those will continue operating despite the shutdown. And TSA will also continue its work. They are considered essential employees. They will continue working without pay. The same goes for air traffic controllers.

So if you have a flight right now, you should be OK. I say should because there's a caveat there. The longer things drag out, these circumstances may change. I remember2018 and 2019, I covered that shutdown lasted 35 days. And we saw that TSA and air traffic controllers started calling out sick after missing multiple paychecks.

[09:10:18]

And that sparked delays at airports across the country. Back to the services, passports and visas will still be processed, although it may take longer. But here is what is compromise, and this is quite important here, Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children that is known commonly as WIC, we know that can keep operating for roughly one week. After that, millions of new mothers, pregnant women, infants and children could lose access to nutritious foods. And at VA national cemeteries, although they will remain open and burials can continue, things like headstones will not be installed and ground maintenance will stop.

We know that portions of national parks and services will stop. And at the FDA, no new drug applications. Some drug monitoring may also be compromised. So a lot here is at stake. And again, really the key is how long this all lasts because that is just how much more painful it will be for the American public, Kate.

BOLDUAN: That's exactly right. Rene, thank you so much for putting it together for -- putting that together for us so we can understand the scope and scale of this. John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, Matt Mowers, former Trump administration official, and CNN Political Commentator Bakari Sellers.

Gentlemen, I actually think one of the features of this shutdown right now is how many of these leaders are eager to talk on television, right? House Speaker Mike Johnson was on last night with Kaitlan. He's on again today at noon with Dana. We had Chuck Schumer on just a few minutes ago. J.D. Vance is all over the place this morning. Bakari, why is everyone so eager to be out there talking?

It seems they may be enjoying this.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think that's disturbing and I think that's what the American public is tired of in both parties, kind of the BS that goes around. I mean, not many people, when you have your services cut, want to wake up in the morning and look at this, you know, trio of handsome individuals arguing back and forth about why government is shutting down, but yet here we are. The fact is, most Americans, and I was looking at polling last night, most Americans will put this in the laps of the Republican Party. They control the House, the Senate and the presidency, but they can't get their act together. And even more importantly, and this is why I -- this is why I know our government is broken, why do we keep having government shutdowns hanging over our head?

It seems like every six, seven months, we have this crisis where Democrats and Republicans can't come together and put together a long term budget so the government can operate without these fire drills.

BERMAN: And Matt, one of the possibilities for why so many of these leaders are coming on T.V. is -- is they all think they're winning, which could be a problem. MATT MOWERS, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, you got to also remember the Republican leadership right now wants to ensure that if you are, you know, an active duty service member who woke up today and won't get your paycheck, or if you're a working class mother who is on WIC programs in a week and can't get substance, you know, food for her own children, or if in a few weeks we lose TSA agents and you can't catch a flight, you know where to put the political pressure, it's on Chuck Schumer right now. Let's not forget that a Republican House passed this continuing resolution, all but one Republican senator voted for this continuing resolution. You have a Republican president that said he'd signed the continuing resolution.

And not to mention the fact, something I think doesn't get discussed a lot, this is essentially the skeleton and same bones of the budget bill from 2022 that we've barely changed all that much through CRs and omnibuses since then, by the way, a budget bill that was passed when Joe Biden was president, Nancy Pelosi was speaker and Chuck Schumer was majority leader. So Democrats supported essentially the same exact budget bill for the past several years. The only thing that's different is the fact that Chuck Schumer after the March continuing resolution caused so much flak from the far left of his base. He's concerned about losing a primary next year or possibly losing the minority leader status that he's now allowed for the government to shut down because -- to serve his own political ambition. And I'll tell you, the folks who should be really ticked besides Americans who won't get the services they need are the Democrats in the House and Senate on the ballot this year and next year, because remember, you got Mikie Sherrill, incumbent congresswoman, running for governor this year and then the entire Democrats are vulnerable next year, they should be blaming Chuck Schumer when their poll numbers start dropping, the American people realize he's the one to blame.

BERMAN: Bakari, I think I saw an eye roll there.

SELLERS: Yes, it was an eye roll. The talking points were good and they were coming fast and furious. But that's just not the facts. A lot of things have changed since that kind of bare bones CR. We've seen Republicans take away health care from millions of individuals. So that same mother that you're talking about who may or may not receive her WIC in a week or two, she right now is going to be deprived of access to health care because federal health centers are shutting down.

[09:15:10]

We just had one here in Columbia, South Carolina, shut down. We've had one in Ohio shut down already. We've already had one in Virginia shut down because the fact that you all rolled back Medicaid at rates and cuts that should, should have the American people on edge.

The other thing, which nobody points out, which is the gamesmanship which J.D. Vance said he would talk about, is we all know. Everybody sitting here, if you're honest, knows that healthcare premiums because of Republicans and eliminating ACA subsidies are going to go up. They're go -- they're going to go up starting next month. You're going to get letters about rates. Those rates are going to go up on millions of Americans.

And so all Democrats are saying is this, this isn't a -- this isn't a really wild argument. We're saying, yes, we care about that same mother, we care about those TSA agents, we care about those military members, but there are also dozens, I mean, excuse me, tens of millions of Americans who are going to go without health care because of Republicans. And look, Republicans run the government. They run the government. Fix it.

This is what you wanted, fix it. You broke it, you fix it.

BERMAN: Let me play, Matt, for you, an exchange of sorts where you had Vice President Vance on T.V. and then Senator Schumer responding to what he said right here with us. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'd offer right now to the Senate Democrats, I'm happy. I will go to the Capitol right now to talk to Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats about premium support for the Affordable Care Act, but only after they've reopened the government. You can't reward this exercise in hostage taking, which is what we would be doing if we allowed government -- the government opening to be conditional on the Democrats policy disagreements.

SCHUMER: They've had since March to do this. We've asked them to vote on it three times, the Republican senators, and all three times they voted no. We need a real answer now. If they kick the can down the road, you know, as Martin Luther once -- King once said, senior, later means never.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So those seem to be the lines, Matt.

MOWERS: I mean, look, you've had Republicans come out and say they would support extending what they're calling the health care ACA extenders, right? So that's not the issue. The issue is that Chuck Schumer needs to raise more money for the Senate Democrats who are getting - well, they're fundraising right now, so he's trying to manufacture outrage on the backs of working class Americans who are going to suffer as a result of this. And he's also trying to ensure that he can shore up his flank.

And let me just correct one thing Bakari said, the only people who no longer access Medicaid are people who should not have been asking Medicaid because all the Big Beautiful Bill did was ensure that those who are committing Medicaid fraud or those who are not willing to work --

SELLERS: That's not true.

MOWERS: -- or even seek work or weren't caring for someone should lose it. And so like, let's stop with your tactics. It's the reason, by the way --

SELLERS: That's not --

MOWERS: -- the Democrats have been losing this --

SELLERS: That's not --

MOWERS: -- if you compared it a few years ago. They've been making this for five months and it hasn't panned out to be true.

BERMAN: Bakari, 20 seconds.

SELLERS: That's -- that's simply not true. And when -- yes, 20 seconds. That's simply not true. And one of the things that -- that my good friend Matt is forgetting is that this Medicaid, for example, is also funding these federal health centers. We're talking about access to quality care.

We're talking about these places that are in -- that not -- not necessarily these big shiny cities, but out in rural areas. We're talking about places that are in low income areas that give people the quality care they need. When you roll back and cut back on Medicaid, these individuals, these places don't have access to the care and they cannot stay open. We're also talking about rural hospitals. In South Carolina, that's important.

Mississippi, that's important. If you talk to rural hospitals today, their budgets are being cut because of what you all did in the Big Beautiful Bill to Medicaid.

BERMAN: Bakari Sellers, Matt Mowers, again, one of the issues here may be that everyone thinks they're winning. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, President Trump floating -- floats the idea out loud that maybe he wants to use American cities as training grounds for American troops. Justice Oregon is now suing the Trump administration over the president now targeting that state. The state's attorney general is our guest.

And one person is dead, another injured after a house explodes, just look at that, in Delaware. We have the latest on the investigation now into what caused all of this.

[09:19:20]

And it is not your typical traffic delay. A big rig collision sends thousands of beer cans splattering across the California freeway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: We are following some breaking news we want to show you right here. We're getting reports of a partial high rise building collapse in the Bronx, New York. You can see -- you see that high rise building right there? It's about, it seems, 20 stories. You're looking at live pictures right now.

Video shows a big chunk of that now missing. Look at the debris on the ground there. New York City's Mayor Eric Adams tweeted out that he has been briefed on this emergency situation. He is telling everyone to avoid the area. Very clearly, this is just unfolding as we speak.

Right now, we have no reports of any injuries. But I will say we are just now getting this in and we are just now seeing the first images of this. We will be keeping you updated as we get more reports of what seems like a very scary situation there in the Bronx, New York.

All right, so let's turn to this while we continue to track that. The state of Oregon and the city of Portland taking the Trump administration to court now. This is after the president's move to take over the Oregon National Guard. There will be a hearing on this on Friday. They're suing to try and block the deployment of the National Guard troops to Portland, calling it an unconstitutional abuse of power.

I'll read just a statement in this lawsuit saying, "Far from promoting public safety, defendants," meaning President Trump and the administration, "their provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry."

[09:25:05]

Now, the mayor of Portland says that the number of troops Portland wants or needs is zero. But the president is not backing down and had this to say, I'll play it for you, just yesterday in front of a room full of the country's top military leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How about Portland? Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone. And I get a call from the liberal governor, sir, please don't come in. We don't need you. I said, well, unless they're playing false tapes, this looked like World War II.

Your place is burning down. I mean, you must be kidding. Sir, we have it under control. I said, you don't have it under control, Governor, but I'll check it and I'll call you back. I called him back, I said, you -- you -- this place is a nightmare.

Probably, it's certainly not the biggest, but it's one of the worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is the Democratic Attorney General of Oregon, Dan Rayfield.

Attorney General, thank you for being here. So with this -- with filing this lawsuit, what do you want to see happen from here?

DAN RAYFIELD, OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, the hope is that we're going to be able to pause the president's actions. And I think the commonality that we all have is that we all agree that public safety is incredibly important. The difference here is the president is basing seeing his facts on what he's seeing on social media as opposed to what's really going on in the ground. And so the idea is you get in front of a judge, you get in front of a neutral arbiter, and you talk about what's actually happening instead of relying on social media gossip. And that'll happen on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. here in Portland.

BOLDUAN: On that, what the president is seeing and what is happening on the ground, this is an interesting element of this that I actually wanted to ask you about because the governor did mention that in a call with the president over the weekend that the president told her on the phone that he had heard of fires in the federal courthouse in downtown Portland being taken over, to which the governor says she believes may be based on the president watching old video. Here's a quote from the governor, "We cannot be looking at footage from 2020 and assume that is the case today in Portland." I mean, do you think that is really what is driving this, like the president is seeing old video, that he's just mistaken in what he's basing his judgment on?

RAYFIELD: I mean, that was widely reported on in the news. I mean, he made statements right after watching an old video from 2020. So that's absolutely confirmed.

I think one of the things that I see going on here is the president trying to normalize the use of the United States military on the streets of our cities here in America. If you've watched just the pattern in history, right, you look at California, look at Washing, D.C. Memphis, he's talking about Illinois, Oregon, it is coming. And just yesterday, he talks about how he wants to train the troops of the United States military on our streets. This is not normal. This is dangerous.

And this is not how we think about things or live our lives in America. That's what you'd expect to see in a third world country, not in America. And that's why you might think to yourself, 200 troops, not a big deal. It's the principle of what is going on here in this country right now is this normalization of troops. And it's the fact that the President can say anything about the condition in any city, in any city without any factual basis, and then mobilize the U.S. military to that city. That is a dangerous precedent when you put that much power in one human being.

BOLDUAN: When we were looking at -- when you look at L.A., the President deployed the Guard to L.A. in June and didn't response to protests. A federal judge didn't rule until the beginning of September on that he deemed that -- he deployment illegal. If that amount of time lapses before you get a ruling in your case, like, what does that mean?

RAYFIELD: Yes. And the facts in California are very different than what's going on here in Oregon. And so, like, our -- as were thinking about this, our goal was once we had formal orders from the president to mobilize the National Guard, we wanted to be in court immediately. We wanted to be in court with a temporary restraining, which, if granted, is what pauses the president's action to get in quickly so that way we could actually stop this from occurring. Because once it happens, you saw this in California, you start to see tensions increase.

It's not actually helpful. And if we're focused on public safety, it's about collaboration. And here in Portland, we have the Portland police, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, you have the Oregon State Police. You have an incredible district attorney that have things under control and are keeping things safe. And that's effectively why things were a little bit different here in Oregon.

BOLDUAN: Let's see what happens. Attorney General of Oregon, thank you for coming in. I appreciate your time. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you to you, Kate.

This morning we got some disappointing private company payroll numbers. Now the market's about to open.