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The White House says massive federal job cuts in the US will begin within two days, as lawmakers trade accusations over the first government shutdown in almost seven years.
The government shutdown began on Wednesday after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to agree on a new spending plan before a midnight deadline.
There are few signs that either side is willing to compromise, and a vote to end the government shutdown failed just hours after it began.
The fear is that the shutdown could drag on and threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs, as well as risk costing the American manufacturing economy billions of dollars in losses.
At a White House press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Vice President JD Vance made a rare appearance alongside Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt and accused Democrats of playing political games.
"If they're that concerned about the effect this is having on the American people, and they should be, what they should be doing is reopening the government, not complaining about how we're responding," he said.
Meanwhile, Leavitt said that massive job cuts would occur within two days.
"Sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do," she said, adding that "Democrats have put us in this position."
It was the latest attack in what has been a bitter blame game between the two parties, with the Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, earlier accusing Republicans of trying to "force" Democrats to accept their funding plan.
Democrats want to have guarantees on health care funding before agreeing to a spending deal, while Republicans want to use a temporary measure to keep the government open until mid-November and funded at current levels.
Democrats have said they allowed the government to shut down in an effort to negotiate to save health care benefits for low-income Americans. They have said efforts to negotiate with Republicans on those benefits have so far been unsuccessful.
“Why are they boycotting the negotiations? I’ve never seen this in my life,” Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said of the Republicans. “The point is, the government will open when Republicans get serious about their issue by talking to Democrats.”
Meanwhile, Republicans, who control both houses of Congress but lack the 60 votes needed to pass a funding bill, have said these health care benefits are not a priority, but keeping the government open is.
"It's not about who wins, who loses or who gets blamed and all that," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, noting that "Democrats have held the American people hostage in a way that they think benefits them politically."
Republicans have also argued that the health care extensions Democrats are seeking will cost American taxpayers more money and were created to manage Covid-era complexities that no longer exist.
Essential workers, such as border agents and the military, may be forced to work without pay for the time being, but government employees deemed non-essential are being placed on temporary unpaid leave. In the past, these workers have been paid retrospectively.
Analysts expect this shutdown to be bigger than the last one in 2018, when Congress passed several funding bills. They expect roughly 40% of federal employees — about 750,000 people — to be furloughed.
Some workers were laid off on Wednesday. But the Trump administration has also threatened permanent layoffs of federal employees.
"Let's be honest, if this thing drags on," Vance said during Wednesday's briefing, "we're going to have to lay people off."
US law already prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving any federally subsidized health coverage.
"Nowhere have Democrats suggested that we are interested in changing federal law," said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Russell Vought, the White House budget chief, briefed Republicans behind closed doors on what the impending job cuts might look like, though public details of those plans are scarce.
On Capitol Hill, there was little appetite Wednesday for a deal that would end the impasse.
"There's nothing to negotiate. There's nothing we can take out of this bill to make it simpler or cleaner than it currently is," said Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Another vote on the short-term funding bill proposed by Republicans is expected on Friday. / Adapted from BBC /
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