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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

U.S. Government Shuts Down After Senate Fails To Pass Spending Bill; Trump Sets Deadline For Hamas To Respond To His Gaza Peace Plan. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 01, 2025 - 04:30   ET

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

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[04:32:40]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More on our top story this hour. The U.S. government is officially shut down after lawmakers failed to meet a midnight deadline to pass a new funding bill.

Republicans are blaming Democrats for holding out instead of approving a stopgap measure to temporarily keep the government going. But Democrats are dug in, demanding health care concessions from their Republican colleagues, in particular an extension of subsidies in the Affordable Care Act. Both sides are voicing their frustrations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN HOEVEN (R-ND): They can't vote for a clean cr. I mean, what's going on with that? Right. And you know, Senator Schumer says, oh, well, because there's no Democrat priorities in it. Well, there's no Republican priorities in it. It's a clean CR.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): If they want support from Democratic side, for God's sake, sit down and let's talk it over at the table as soon as possible. There are plenty of tables in this Capitol for this purpose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: And joining me now is Natasha Lindstadt, a professor of government at the University of Essex.

And, Natasha, this is the first federal shutdown since 2019, which was also during a Trump term. His first. I do want to play a clip of what the president said about shutdowns. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So the last thing we want to do is shut it down, but a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want, and they'd be Democrat things.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ABEL: So what do you make of that these two were during Trump's presidencies? Is he strategically using shutdowns to his advantage?

NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROFESOR OG GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, I think this is a reflection of Trump's style of politics, that he doesn't really engage in a lot of compromise. There's not a lot of discussion, and instead, there's a lot of finger pointing and then threats, threats of shutdown is something that he's realized he can use to try to get his way. Sometimes he does, maybe sometimes he won't.

But I think he thinks in this instance, he will. He believes that the Democrats will be blamed for it. He thinks that the Republicans are pretty supportive of his policies and that there are more Americans that are not in favor of a shutdown. And he's right in that most Americans don't want a shutdown.

But this style of politics, which is so divisive and due to the fact that U.S. has become incredibly polarized, makes it very difficult to get anything done.

[04:35:08]

The Democrats, of course, are under pressure to pursue their health care agenda, which is the centerpiece of their campaign. And it's an issue that they do have more support on compared to Republicans. But they're also under pressure to actually resist at a time when the U.S. is autocratizing that there's been complaints, particularly from the progressive wing of the party, that it's not really doing anything to resist that six months ago, it basically caved into the pressure to avoid a shutdown and that wasn't popular among Democrats.

And so they see this as both a battle to save democracy and also to fight for greater support for health care, worried that some 14 million people in about a decade will be uninsured and that premiums will go up by 75 percent for about 25 million Americans.

ABEL: Natasha, I believe we do have a graphic about a New York Times- Siena poll about who is -- who the public's blaming here that we might be able to put up here in a moment. I do want to hit on that a little bit more because here it is right now, Trump and Republicans at 26 percent, both equally higher than that at 33 percent.

So we see that it can be both. It doesn't have to be one or the other. It can be both Republicans and Democrats to blame here in the eyes of the public. We remember back in that first term with that last shutdown, what happened in the midterms and the swings, the gains for Democrats then how do you see this entire ordeal affecting the upcoming midterms?

LINDSTAEDT: So I think that's what the Democrats are banking on, that ultimately they won't be blamed for the shutdown. And you know, there's been a lot of different polling on this, and some polls seem to be placing more blame on the Republicans. That New York Times-Siena poll shows that it's only 27 percent of Americans or something like that want the Democrats to not cave into pressure and to pursue what they want. And it would obviously end up having a shutdown. So there's not a lot of support for a shutdown.

But if the Democrats are able to communicate their message effectively, then they're going to try to demonstrate that they're the party that cares about working class, and that's something that they're trying to build on, that they're fighting for everyday Americans and that the Republican Party and that Big, Beautiful Bill and the tax cuts are going to leave a lot of Americans with, you know, struggling to pay their bills and higher levels of poverty and not having access to health care.

So they're hoping by the 2026 midterms that they're going to be able to gain some momentum. The problem is that the Democrats at the moment aren't particularly popular as well. So while Trump has pretty low approval rating, but steady somewhere just above 40 percent, the Democrats are struggling to gain ground.

And so there's going to be a lot of work done by both parties to try to play this shutdown in a way that will favor them. And Trump at the moment is confident that he's going to be able to blame it all on the Democrats.

ABEL: Confident enough that his threats of further shrinking the government in light of this shutdown have escalated. How reversible, in your opinion, would this be? Or is this a potential change that would drastically reshape the government and how it operates?

LINDSTAEDT: So that's one of the big differences between this shutdown and the one from 2018, 2019, where workers were -- federal workers were furloughed, but they weren't just, you know, basically ousted from their jobs permanently. And that's what's going to happen with this current one. We see that there's been hundreds of thousands of federal workers that have been fired or let go.

And Trump wants to make that a permanent feature. And he thinks this is something that is a winning issue for Republicans that think that there is too much government, that there's this big, deep state. And one of the solutions to that is just getting rid of, you know, people who work for the government. And the Democrats haven't been able to capitalize on this issue.

I mean, I think there are some concerns, if you look at polling, that Trump is going too far, but he's really holding steady with a lot of support from Republicans on pretty much every issue. And this is one of them, that the government has gotten too big. And he's going to want to make this shut down where, you know, the ousting of federal workers, he's going to want to make it permanent, and he thinks that's going to be helpful to the support that he's going to get.

ABEL: Yes, the base has certainly continued to show up for the president. Natasha Lindstaedt, appreciate your insight as always. Thank you.

LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.

[04:40:00] ABEL: Still to come, President Trump gives Hamas a deadline to respond to his 20-point Gaza peace plan. We'll have details of what he says will happen if the militant group rejects it.

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ABEL: The U.S. President says he is giving Hamas three to four days to respond to his Gaza peace plan. A source tells CNN the U.S. is willing to discuss Hamas counter proposals but won't engage in lengthy negotiations with the militant group.

[04:45:08]

When pressed on what would happen if Hamas doesn't agree to the deal, Donald Trump says it's going to be a very sad end. CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us live from Abu Dhabi with the very latest. And what indications, if any, are we receiving from Hamas about their feelings on this proposal so far?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, we've heard from a source close to these negotiations that there have been talks ongoing between Hamas negotiators and officials from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. We understand they met Tuesday night and Hamas negotiators said that they were carefully reviewing this plan.

It's understood that they are currently consulting with other Palestinian factions, other Palestinian militant groups within Gaza before they formulate their response. We've heard from the U.S. side, though, that they have three to four days. That's according to the U.S. President Donald Trump, which would take us to the end of this week.

Now we also know that according to a U.S. official who's close to these U.S., excuse me, a source involved in this U.S. plan, that there will be some counter proposals allowed by Hamas, but they're not looking for anything that's a lengthy, protracted negotiation.

They don't want to go back to that process. But this is a plan that has already been shown to the Arab and Muslim nations last week on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Their feedback has been taken on board. It is a plan that has been run past and coordinated with Israel. And some feedback came back there as so there is going to be some allowance for Hamas to come back with some minor changes.

We don't have an indication at this point, though, as to what their response will be. We know from people on the ground in Gaza that they are desperately hoping that this will be a ceasefire that lasts. It will be a proposal that does end the bloodshed and the war as they are the ones bearing the brunt of what is happening at this point.

It has to be said, though, there is not a lot of hope that this one will be the one that lasts. Let's listen to what a couple of the Palestinian civilians on the ground said to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ATTALAH YAGHI, DISPLACED GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): The plan he presented is a plan of surrender and it's a difficult decision to be made. Whether they accept it, that's a hard decision. And whether they reject it, that's also a hard decision. It's the people who will pay for it, the people who are dying and the homeland is getting destroyed.

MUHAMMED NASER, DISPLACED GAZA RESIDENT: Who's going to take control of Gaza? Who's going to solve the current situation? The important thing is they find a solution. Whoever takes it, let them. What matters is they find a solution for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now the key red line for Hamas that we've heard in the past was that they would not disarm and disarmament of Gaza. Demilitarization of Gaza is part of this plan. Brian.

ABEL: We'll see how firm of a line that part of this proposal is. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us. Paula, thank you.

So how long will this U.S. government shutdown last? Nobody can predict for sure, but we'll look at past shutdowns to get some ideas. That's next on Early Start.

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[04:52:58]

ABEL: Every government shutdown differs, but typically the functions that are critical to protect lives and property are deemed essential and stay open seen as Harry Enten takes a look at past shutdowns for some insight into what we may see this time around.

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HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there. Well, it's upon us. Yet another government shutdown. Of course, this is one of many government shutdowns it feels like we've had the last few decades. Indeed, that's why I think it's important to look back at those past shutdowns because they can be instructional and informational in terms of how this one might play out.

Well, let's take a look at these past shutdowns. Who got the public blame in past shutdowns '95-'96 it was the Republicans. 2013 again the Republicans, 2018 slash 2019 during the first Trump term it was the Republicans. Republicans usually get blamed for shutdowns, but here is what's so interesting.

Look at this 2013 shutdown where Republicans got blamed. Of course there was a midterm election that occurred in 2014. Did the blame that Republicans get hurt them in that 2014 midterm election? The answer. The answer is no, it didn't.

After the GOP got the blame for the 2013 shutdown, look at the 2014 election in terms of seats. Republicans gained 13 seats in the House of Representatives. In the Senate, they gained back the Senate by gaining nine seats. My goodness gracious. So despite the fact that Republicans got blamed for the 2013 shutdown, it didn't in fact carry over to the next year's midterm election.

So this time around, let's say Democrats end up getting blamed. And that doesn't mean they won't be able to win back the House and the Senate. And the same for Republicans. But in reverse. Right? It doesn't mean that even if they get blamed, they won't be able to hold on to the House and the Senate.

Now there is one thing that is very different about the 1995-'96 shutdown, the 2013 shutdown and the 2018 slash 2019 shutdown. And that is the Democratic Party is in just a much different position. We can see this in this question. What did Democrats want pre-potential shutdowns?

Well before a potential 2023 shutdown that didn't happen, only 21 percent of Democrats said they wanted their party to stand on principle even if it meant a shutdown, compared to 76 percent of Democrats who said they wanted a compromise, no shutdown.

[04:55:09]

Look where we are now. We're talking about nearly half of Democrats, 47 percent, who say they want their party to stand on principle even if it means a shutdown. That is very close to the 52 percent of Democrats right now who say a compromise, no shutdown. That is significantly less than the 76 percent who said that back in 2023.

The bottom line is the Democratic Party is in a different position now than they were even a couple of years ago and certainly a different position than where they were in past shutdowns. This is a party that wants our leadership to fight how that affects this potential shutdown going on and on and on and on and on. We'll just have to wait and see. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right, Harry, thank you. And thank you all for joining us here on Early Start. I'm Brian Abel, Washington, DC. Early Start continues right after this break.

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