With less than 12 hours remaining until a government shutdown, President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Congressional Democrats: he may exploit the funding lapse to make “irreversible” cuts to health care and social benefit programs.
“They’re taking a risk by having a shutdown. We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible,” Trump said of Democrats while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday afternoon. “Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”
It’s unclear which programs Trump was referring to, but he appeared to embrace the looming crisis as leverage, warning Democrats that he and his budget director Russell Vought could use the shutdown to “trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way.”
The threat comes as talks between the White House and Democratic leaders collapsed on Monday evening, when Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries met with Trump in the Oval Office and reiterated their demand that any stopgap funding bill include an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year and a reversal of Medicaid cuts passed in the Republican tax-and-spending package this summer. The Republican leaders, holding a narrow Senate majority, have insisted on a “clean” measure to keep the government open through Nov. 21.
Neither side has shown signs of relenting. “We’ll probably have a shutdown,” Trump said.
For Democrats, the fight carries added political risk. In March, a bloc of centrist lawmakers broke ranks to advance a Republican spending bill without concessions, infuriating progressive groups that accused party leaders of capitulation. Schumer’s decision then was framed as an attempt to avoid a damaging shutdown; now, with Medicaid reductions already enacted, Democrats say they cannot afford to fold again.
Sen. John Thune, the Republican majority leader, has said his party is open to discussing health care subsidies, but only after Democrats agree to reopen the government.
The government is set to shutter at midnight unless Congress manages to reach a last-minute deal. The impasse has left federal workers bracing for furloughs and potential layoffs. The Office of Management and Budget has warned agencies to prepare for “reductions in force,” an unusual move that could transform what is typically a temporary pause in government operations into permanent job losses.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday estimated that as many as 750,000 federal employees could be sidelined each day of a shutdown.
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