Senate Activity Summary: Veterans Day Tribute and Government Shutdown Crisis

Key Chapter Title List

1. Prayer
2. Pledge of Allegiance
3. Reserved Leadership Time
4. Morning Business
5. Veterans Day
6. Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026—Motion to Proceed
7. Government Funding Issues
8. Recognition of the Majority Leader

Document Introduction

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the core agenda of the Senate on that day, based on the official activity minutes of the first session of the 119th United States Congress on November 6, 2025. The document records the formal proceedings of the Senate session and the partisan speeches surrounding key issues against the backdrop of the 37th day of a partial federal government shutdown, with a particular focus on two major themes: tributes and commemorations for the upcoming Veterans Day, and the intense political contest over responsibility for and solutions to the government shutdown.

The report first presents the ceremonial opening segments of the session, including the Chaplain's prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, with the prayer's content implicitly calling for resolving the shutdown and reopening the government. It then moves to the "Morning Business" segment, where Senator Grassley of Iowa delivered a speech on Veterans Day. He traced the historical evolution of the holiday from "Armistice Day" to "Veterans Day" and detailed the "Veterans History Project" undertaken by his office to preserve veterans' oral histories, emphasizing the importance of recording the stories of those who experienced war for historical research and education of future generations. Simultaneously, he mentioned that the year marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps, using the occasion to thank all veterans and Marine Corps members. Notably, Senator Grassley explicitly pointed out that due to the government shutdown, his team's originally planned in-person commemorative events could not proceed as scheduled, directly revealing the practical impact of the shutdown on routine administrative and commemorative activities.

The core analytical section of the report focuses on the opposing speeches on the government shutdown issue delivered by Senator John Thune of South Dakota and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York (referred to as "SCHUMER" in the document). Representing the Republican position, Thune placed the blame for the shutdown entirely on the Democrats, accusing them of refusing to pass a "clean," non-partisan continuing resolution and holding government operations hostage to gain leverage on issues related to "Obamacare." He detailed the severe consequences of the shutdown: tens of millions of Americans relying on food assistance facing the risk of hunger, federal employees working without pay for over a month, and the potential for large-scale disruptions in air traffic control due to staffing shortages. Thune cited internal Democratic remarks and media reports to accuse the radical left wing within the Democratic Party of pressuring to prolong the shutdown and questioned their political motives.

In contrast, Schumer's speech (beginning in the latter half of the second page) represented the Democratic counterattack. He attributed the shutdown responsibility to former President Trump and the Republicans, emphasizing that recent election results showed public dissatisfaction with high living costs and rising healthcare expenses. He called on Republicans to heed public sentiment, cooperate with Democrats to reopen the government, and negotiate on the Affordable Care Act premium crisis. Schumer quoted Trump's remarks about the shutdown negatively affecting Republican election prospects, attempting to demonstrate that internal pressure to end the shutdown also existed within the Republican Party. He criticized the Republican administration for failing to address the burden on people's livelihoods and instead implementing policies favoring the wealthy.

As a primary legislative procedural document, this record does not contain external data or third-party analysis. However, its content itself serves as first-hand material for studying American political polarization, executive-legislative relations, budget politics and crisis management, and the political implications of public commemorative activities. The verbatim accounts of the speeches by the two party leaders clearly demonstrate how both sides construct narratives, assign blame, vie for public opinion, and attempt to influence the negotiation landscape during a major domestic political crisis, providing professional researchers with a typical sample for dissecting the American political decision-making process and partisan discourse strategies.