Republicans and Democrats remain at an impasse on Monday as the enters its sixth day and the possibility of layoffs escalates.
President Donald Trump blamed Democrats on Sunday when asked about his threat to fire federal workers.
"I call them Democrat layoffs. They're Democrat layoffs. They're causing it. We're ready to go back, you know," Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One. "We have a record-setting economy. We have a record-setting country. Prices are way down. We're doing better than the country has ever done, and the Democrats hate seeing that. It's up to them. Anybody laid off, that's because of the Democrats."
The ongoing shutdown is a result of a tug-of-war over a short-term bill to fund the government through Nov. 21.
Last week, Democratic leaders decided to take a stand on federal health care spending, while Republican leaders said they want to pass a temporary measure to keep the government open and funded at current levels.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., briefed reporters Monday morning on the situation and continued to condemn Democrats and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for "changing his tune" and giving into the far left base in his party to create a red herring.
"They decided that they would pick a fight on health care," Johnson said. "Let me look right into the camera and tell you very clearly, Republicans are the ones concerned about health care. Republicans are the party working around the clock every day to fix health care. This is not talking points for us. We've done it."
"A big part of the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Working Families Tax Cut, was to fix health care," he continued. "Health care is broken in America. It's too expensive. The quality of care needs to rise. We need more access for more people, and we have lots of ideas to do that. But that issue is for debate in the next three months, it always was."
Johnson added that reporters could stop asking why he wasn't negotiating an end to the impasse and that it was up to a handful of Democrats to “stop the madness” and pass a stopgap spending bill that had earlier passed the House.
“There’s nothing for us to negotiate. The House has done its job,” he said.
The House is not expected to be in session this week, focusing attention on the Senate to take the lead on any deal in the Republican-led Congress.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on Sunday that there have been no talks with Republican leaders since their White House meeting on Sept. 29.
Well, the last time there was a conversation with Republican leadership was in the White House meeting last Monday, and unfortunately, since that point in time, Republicans, including Donald Trump, have gone radio silent," he said on NBC's Meet the Press. "And what we've seen is negotiation through deep fake videos, the House canceling votes, and of course, President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course.
The Trump administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers, a tactic that has never been used before.
Johnson blamed Schumer and Jeffries for causing the layoffs to happen in the first place.
In a situation like this, where the Senate Democrats have decided to turn the keys to the kingdom over to the White House, they have to make tough decisions," Johnson rebutted on NBC's Meet the Press. "Russ Vought runs the Office of Management and Budget. He has to now look at all of the federal government, recognizing that the funding streams have been turned off, and determine what are essential programs, policies, and personnel. That's not a job that he relishes, but he's been required to do it by Chuck Schumer.
On Friday, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to get the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster in the 100-member chamber.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Sunday that the shutdown on discretionary spending, the furloughing of federal workers and requirements that other federal employees work without pay will go on so long as Democrats vote no.
“They’ll get another chance on Monday to vote again,” Thune said. “And I’m hoping that some of them have a change of heart.”
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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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