Vice President JD Vance took center stage to attack Democrats on Monday as the U.S. government barrels toward a shutdown despite Donald Trump finally meeting with Democratic congressional leaders.
The president met with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for the first time since returning to office, as government funding is set to expire at midnight on Tuesday. Vance, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune were also in the meeting.
“I think we’re headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vance declared Monday, flanked by Johnson and Thune.
It came moments after Jeffries and Schumer spoke to reporters after departing the White House after getting a meeting with Trump more than a week after requesting one. The president pulled the plug on their initial scheduled sit-down last week.
“It’s up to the Republicans whether they want a shutdown or not. We made the president some proposals,” Schumer said on Monday outside the White House.
Schumer said the president would be the ultimate decision-maker on whether he would be willing to negotiate with Democrats or allow a shutdown.
Republicans want to pass a so-called continuing resolution to keep the government funded through mid-November at its current levels. Democrats have called for the deal to include an extension of tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year, as well as a rollback of some Medicaid cuts from the GOP tax bill passed earlier this year.
Republicans control the House, Senate, and White House, giving Democrats few opportunities to negotiate.
A short-term spending bill to fund the government through mid-November already passed in the House but it would need 60 votes in the Senate, so Republicans require at least 7 Democrats to support it.
Republicans in the Senate want to pass the House GOP’s so-called continuing resolution to keep the government funded at its current levels. Democrats have called for the deal to include an extension of tax credits for the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year, as well as a rollback of some Medicaid cuts from the GOP tax bill passed earlier this year.
Schumer and Jeffries accused Republicans of fueling a health care crisis and said they laid out to the president some of the consequences of what’s happening.
Schumer suggested that, based on Trump’s reaction in their closed-door meeting, it was the first time Trump was hearing about the closing of rural hospitals, and even that some insurance premiums are set to skyrocket if no action is taken.
However, Vance was quick to deny Trump was hearing about the health care concerns for the first time. He led the charge, firing back at Democrats with GOP congressional leaders outside the White House after the meeting. He said policy disagreements should not be used as leverage to shut down the government.
“You don’t put a gun to the American people’s head and say, ‘Unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we’re going to shut down your government.’ That’s exactly what they’re proposing out there,” Vance said forcefully.
Vance repeated the claim that Democrats wanted to give billions of dollars in health care to undocumented immigrants. Still, Democrats have repeatedly countered that this is not true, noting undocumented immigrants are already barred from such benefits under the law. They’re not looking to change that, but to address the crisis facing Americans.
If the government shuts down, essential services would continue, but millions of federal workers would not receive paychecks, including those in the U.S. military, despite having to continue working. Americans would also face a number of government services being put on hold.
But last week, the White House budget office upped the pressure with a memo to agencies telling them to prepare for mass firings of federal workers, not just furloughs, if the government shuts down. Democrats said they would not be intimidated.
On Monday, Vance notably sidestepped a question about the administration preparing for mass firings while speaking outside the White House.
The showdown has remained a high-stakes game of chicken despite real-life consequences, with neither side willing to blink so far.
Trump remained remarkably quiet in the hours after the meeting, including on social media, leaving Vance to speak for the administration. The meeting was notably not opened to the press as the president had once done during his first term, which allowed Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Schumer the opportunity to lecture him on camera.
But both sides are hoping that the other party is blamed should the government have its first shutdown since Trump’s first term in office, when a showdown over the border led to a record 34-day shutdown.