The US government is hurtling towards its first shutdown in six years, with no signs congressional leaders are near agreement on legislation to continue funding beyond the Tuesday night deadline to prevent workers from being furloughed and agencies from shutting their doors.
Congress’s Republican majority is pushing legislation to fund the government through 21 November, but Democrats have refused to vote for it unless it includes a series of concessions centered on healthcare.
Donald Trump convened a meeting of the two party’s congressional leaders on Monday evening, but there was no sign of a breakthrough, with JD Vance, the vice-president, declaring: “I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”
Republicans passed their funding bill through the House of Representatives on a near party-line vote, but it requires at least some Democratic support to advance in the Senate.
In exchange for their votes, the minority party is demanding an extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans, which expire at the end of the year. They also want to undo Republican cuts to Medicaid, the program providing healthcare to poor and disabled Americans, and public media outlets.
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said he had laid out the case for continued healthcare spending to Trump in the Oval office and “[the president] seemed to, for the first time, understand the magnitude of this crisis”.
“If he will accept some of the things we ask, which we think the American people are for, on health care and on rescissions, he can avoid a shutdown, but there are still large differences between us,” Schumer said.
Republican congressional leaders have shown no signs of shifting in their demands for a vote on their spending bill, which they say will give appropriators more time to reach an agreement on long-term government spending.
“This is purely and simply hostage-taking on behalf of the Democrats,” said John Thune, the Senate majority leader.
A shutdown would begin Wednesday at midnight. Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a memo saying it would exploit a lapse in funding to carry out more mass firings as part of its crusade to slash government bureaucracy.
Polling from Morning Consult released Monday found that 45% of voters would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown, while 32% would blame the Democrats.
