JD Vance says government headed for 'shutdown' after meeting with Democrats

Vice President JD Vance said he believes the US is headed toward a shutdown, calling Democrats “unreasonable” as Republicans seek to pin the blame on their political opponents.

“I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance said Monday following a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House. “I hope they change their mind, but we’re going to see.”

President Donald Trump met with top Democratic and Republican congressional leaders in a last-ditch effort to prevent a shutdown before an October 1 deadline. The two sides left no closer to resolving Democrats’ demands to extend health-care subsidies and reverse Medicaid funding cuts included in Trump’s signature tax legislation passed earlier this year.

“If he will accept some of the things we asked, 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,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said after the meeting.

Despite the Republican majority in the Senate, GOP leaders need at least eight Democrats to vote for any funding measure to overcome procedural obstacles and opposition from at least one Republican senator, Rand Paul of Kentucky.

A shutdown would delay release of key economic indicators — including the monthly employment report scheduled to be released Friday — and at least temporarily furlough hundreds of thousands of federal workers while other government employees are forced to work without pay to continue essential services.

US stocks pared gains after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced late Monday morning it planned not to release economic data during a potential shutdown.

Trump has threatened to permanently fire federal workers en masse if the government shuts down, compounding the impact on the economy. Furloughed employees historically have returned to work when the government reopens and received back pay for lost wages.

A shutdown would be the first since 2018-2019, when funding for the government lapsed for five weeks including New Year’s Day during Trump’s first administration.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Monday that Democrats would not accept mere pledges to work together later on health care policy in exchange for their votes now on a short-term spending bill to keep the government open.

“No one can trust their word on health care,” he said, pointing out that Republicans have tried for more than a decade to repeal Obamacare. “The America people know it would be an unreasonable thing to do.”

Democrats want to spend $350 billion to permanently extend Obamacare tax credits to middle-class families, to avoid a premium spike on January 1. They also want the bill to repeal Medicaid cuts in the giant Trump tax bill, including new work requirements and a crackdown on an accounting gimmick that has allowed states to increase their Medicaid reimbursement rates. They also want to reverse cuts to medical research and block the White House from rescinding previously enacted appropriations.

Also Read: US government shutdown looms: What it really means