US Vice President JD Vance, during a press briefing at the White House today, says the Republicans will negotiate with their opponents once the shutdown is over. Photo: AFP / Jim Watson
Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed on Wednesday as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving an acrimonious funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs.
With the government out of money after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, federal departments have been closing since midnight, with the White House warning of "imminent" firings of public sector workers.
Senate Democrats, who are demanding extended health care subsidies for low income families, refused to help the majority Republicans approve a House-passed bill that would have reopened the government for several weeks while negotiations continue.
With the Senate now adjourned until Friday, hopes for a quick resolution have been frustrated.
Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough - a kind of enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work.
Essential workers such as the military and border agents may be forced to work without pay and some will likely miss pay cheques next week. Meanwhile the National Air Traffic Controllers Association voiced fears for air safety as more than 2300 members were sent home.
The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns, with Trump racing to enact hard-right policies, including slashing government departments and threatening to turn many of the furloughs into mass firings.
His spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the White House was "working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made... and we believe that layoffs are imminent."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the first briefing since the shutdown began. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Alex Wong
Shutdowns are a periodic feature of gridlocked Washington, although this is the first since a record 35-day pause in 2019, during Trump's first term.
They are unpopular because multiple services used by ordinary voters, from national parks to permit applications, become unavailable.
"I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people and find a way to make things not happen like this," said Terese Johnston, a 61-year-old retired tour guide visiting Washington from California as the government shut down.
"You compromise. You find ways. So everybody gives a little bit, everybody takes a little bit, and things work."
Democrats - motivated by grassroots anger over the expiring health care subsidies and Trump's dismantling of government agencies - have been withholding Senate votes to fund the government as leverage to try and force negotiations.
As the messaging war over the shutdown intensified, Vice President JD Vance took centre stage at a White House briefing normally headed by Leavitt to upbraid Democrats over their demands.
"They said to us, 'we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens'. That's a ridiculous proposition," Vance said in a rare appearance in the briefing room.
US law bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding, and the party has not called for a new act of Congress to change that.
No compromise
Republicans in the House of Representative have already passed a stop-gap funding fix to keep federal functions running through late November while a longer-term plan is thrashed out.
But the 100-member Senate does not have the 60 votes required to send it to Trump's desk, and Democrats say they won't help unless Republicans compromise on their planned spending cuts, especially in health care.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is laying the blame on US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Kevin Dietsch
Talks that have taken place so far have been unusually bitter, with Trump mocking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on social media.
Senate Republican leaders, who have just one rebel in their own ranks, need eight Democrats to join the majority and rubber-stamp the House-passed bill.
They got three moderates to cross the aisle in an initial vote Tuesday and were hoping to peel off five more as the shutdown chaos starts to bite. But Wednesday's result went exactly the same way.
Congress is out on Thursday for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday but the Senate returns to work on Friday and may be in session through the weekend. The House is not due back until next week.
-AFP
