WASHINGTON – The federal government shutdown continued grimly this week, coming closer to outpacing the second longest in American history — a 21-day Clinton-era shutdown over opposition to large spending cuts.
The U.S. House continues to be in recess because Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refuses to reconvene the chamber until Senate Democrats approve his short-term spending bill.
Those Senate Democrats, however, are not budging from their demands that any bill that would reopen the government reverse GOP cuts to Medicaid and extend premium subsidies that help many Americans purchase insurance on Affordable Care Act exchanges.
So, there’s no hope for an early end to the standoff, and some lawmakers are projecting the shutdown will continue well into November.
Related: Shutdown Blog: The latest on the federal government shutdown and its impact on Minnesota
Meanwhile, most federal workers — with the exception of those in the military — missed a paycheck this week.
But there was also good news for federal workers. U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plans to lay off thousands of federal workers during the shutdown.
Ilston sided with the unions representing federal workers who filed the lawsuit, arguing the dismissals were illegal.
Congratulations to @AFGENational members and all federal employees on a major victory in the fight against the illegal mass firings instituted by President Trump and Russ Vought! https://t.co/z6LYik4jvH
— Rep. Betty McCollum (@BettyMcCollum04) October 15, 2025
Democrats turn to soybean politics
What are some Democrats running on during the shutdown? Soybeans.
The crisis facing the nation’s soybean farmers has become central to the messaging of some Democrats who think Republicans are vulnerable in farm country due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which have prompted China to boycott U.S. soybeans.
The Democratic National Committee, headed by former Minnesota DFL Party chair Ken Martin, launched a campaign-style advertisement this week for the financial pain Trump’s tariff policies are causing soybean farmers who had developed a growing market in China.
The new DNC ad features John Bartman of Marengo, Illinois, a fifth-generation farmer, who says soybean farmers “don’t want a bailout. We want a market.”
“Bailouts are Band-Aids,” he said. “What (Trump) is doing is destroying our markets, and when those markets disappear, we’re not going to get them back.”
Minnesotans may not see that ad because it is running in congressional districts in other states where Democrats see the potential of making gains in the midterms, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Kentucky.
Yet Bartman joined a DNC press call this week headlined by Gov. Tim Walz, who is running for reelection.
In that press call, Walz blasted Trump for his tariff policies and for offering Argentina a $20 billion credit swap just after that Latin American nation suspended its duties to sell at least 7 million metric tons of soybeans to China.
“It’s going to take us years to get these markets back,” Walz said of China and other overseas buyers of American farm products.
Walz also held an event Wednesday at a soybean farm near Faribault to continue his attacks on Trump policy.
Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha and Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish also held a press call Thursday to “highlight how President Donald Trump’s administration’s policies are undercutting Minnesota’s economies and unsettling America’s farming communities”
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee and a candidate for retiring U.S. Sen. Tina Smith’s seat, has planned an event at a soybean farm this weekend to continue the attacks on the president and the GOP.
Meanwhile, Smith tried, but failed, to win Senate approval this week for a bill that would prohibit Trump from providing Argentina with a $20 billion credit swap.
Related: Federal solutions prove elusive for Minnesota soybean farmers caught in trade war with China
“It’s a slap in the face to American farmers who had their markets undercut by Argentina,” Smith said. “That money should be spent on our own citizens, who are just trying to scrape by and figure out a way to make their lives work while everything seems to get more expensive.”
Then the Trump administration roiled the waters again when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said his agency is working on a partnership with the private sector banks and other entities that would provide an additional $20 billion in financing for Argentina.
“While family farmers in Minnesota and Maine are losing business to Argentina, the Trump Admin is organizing a $40 billion bailout to Argentina — because who needs to reopen the government when you could just spend all your time and energy finding taxpayer dollars to give to our top agricultural competitors?” Craig asked in a post on X.
Democrats have steadily lost political influence in rural America and it’s unclear how the soybean-centered campaign to try to regain some of that ground will play out.
Trump has promised to cover farm losses tied to his tariff policies. The president did that during his first term when his tariffs were much more limited and focused on China.
But there are questions about whether Trump will be able to secure the many more billions of dollars needed this time to try to make American farmers whole. Still, Trump support in rural America remains strong.
Trump won the 2024 election by 40 percentage points over Kamala Harris in rural areas, beating his own margins in 2020 and 2016, according to a Pew Research analysis.
Yet polls conducted by ActiVote show Trump’s approval rating, although still strong, showed slippage from September to October among rural voters.
On his part, Trump showed increasing frustration with Beijing this week, issuing threats — including a puzzling one to halt all U.S. purchases of Chinese cooking oil — that roiled Wall Street.
“I believe that China purposefully not buying our Soybeans, and causing difficulty for our Soybean Farmers, is an Economically Hostile Act,” Trump posted on social media. “We are considering terminating business with China having to do with Cooking Oil, and other elements of Trade, as retribution. As an example, we can easily produce Cooking Oil ourselves, we don’t need to purchase it from China.”
In other news:
▪️ Don’t forget to check our new blog for updates on the federal government shutdown’s impact on Minnesota.
▪️ We looked at how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has killed a plan by Minnesota hospitals to raise $1 billion to offset losses they incur for treating Medicaid patients.
▪️ A recent Fact Brief of ours debunked a claim that a federal operation found that half of the immigrants living in the Twin Cities have committed immigration fraud.
▪️ We published a series of stories this week by Matthew Blake on Minnesota’s troubled nursing homes, including a state plan to help them, the challenges of working in those facilities, their opaque finances and their strong link to labor unions.
▪️ Also, if you haven’t had a chance to watch it, be sure to check out this conversation, filmed at last month’s MinnPost Festival, between former U.S. attorneys Andy Luger and Barbara McQuade.
Your questions and comments
A reader had some suggestions on how the media should get tough on lawmakers during the shutdown.
“Given that the House is not in session, isn’t it a perfect time to invite each of our eight House members to do interviews, press conferences and town hall forums?” the reader asked. “I believe my representative Dr. Kelly Morrison is doing some of that — being out in public and not hiding behind press releases and public statements.”
“Issue invitations and ask all of them tough questions,” the reader continued. “For the rural Republican ones, they need to explain why they supported Medicaid cuts that will be especially tough on their areas, tariffs that are destroying foreign sales and withholding money for power transmission which is a homeland security issue.”
“And don’t spare Democrats, obviously. Here is one for (Rep. Ilhan) Omar. What do community leaders need to do to stop young minority males from being recruited to street gangs?”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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