The U.S. government is likely to shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, with Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats at an impasse and the sides now focusing their attention on winning the media messaging blame game.
That was apparent on Capitol Hill, where leaders of both parties each tried to convince dozens of reporters that it was the other’s responsibility on averting the government’s closure.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said that “this is fully avoidable. It is a decision they are going to have to make, and if the government shuts down, it is on the Senate Democrats.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the GOP has refused to come to the table to negotiate a pressing issue, subsidies to Obamacare premiums, as they face getting notice of huge increases from insurers in the coming weeks.
“It’s in their court,” he said, later adding, “When there’s … a Republican president, the Republican Senate, the Republican House, the natural inclination is to blame the Republicans.”
The House passed a continuing resolution proposal earlier this month to fund the government through November, and then went pn recess. But Senate Republicans need Democratic votes to pass that proposal, given a 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. That was defeated 55-45 on Tuesday evening, with less than five hours before the funding lapse. Also failing to pass was Democrats’ proposal to keep the government open.
The last government shutdown occurred during Trump’s first term. It started at the end of 2018 and ended 35 days later, in 2019, after Democrats had taken control of the House.
Then, the immediate impact on Hollywood was disruptions to any production schedules on federal property, such as national parks. Reviews of proposed mergers at the FCC and the FTC were delayed as staffers were furloughed.
Since then, there have been numerous threats of a shutdown amid potential federal funding lapses, that the showdowns have become almost routine. The mood among some federal workers on Tuesday was a shrug, having been through this before, even though many are facing life without a paycheck. Many House and Senate staffers will still be working, albeit without pay and with the expectation that they will receive their salary retroactively.
That said, Trump has threatened drastic cuts should the government close. “We’re going to be laying off a lot of people that are going to be affected. They are going to be Democrats. … A lot of good can come from shutdowns,” he said on Tuesday. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.”
As he tried to cast blame, the president got irritated when CBS News’ Weijia Jiang called him out on his claim that Democrats were asking for health care subsidies for undocumented immigrants. She noted that they are not eligible.
“Look, we all have a big hearts,” Trump said. “I have a bigger heart than you do. They’re all breaking the law and they are coming into the country.”
Schumer said that Trump’s threat to fire federal workers showed he was “taking ownership” of the shutdown and “using Americans as pawns.” He also pushed back on the idea that Democrats should back down because of the threat of drastic cuts to the government workforce. “”The bottom line is, he’s doing it anyway,” Schumer said.
So far, much of the messaging surrounding the shutdown has been via traditional press conferences and webcasts on Capitol Hill. But on social media, it’s been one of Trump’s posts that has dominated much of the conversation. On Monday evening, he posted an AI generated deepfake in which Schumer was shown saying, “We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bulls—.” Standing next to him is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, wearing a sombrero and with a mustache. The video was meant to reinforce the false claim that Democrats wanted to give free healthcare to undocumented immigrants.
Schumer and Jeffries had met with Trump hours earlier, and they cast the video as weak and juvenile.
“Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video,” Jeffries said in an appearance with other Democrats on the steps of the Capitol. “When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.”
Schumer said, “His video was dumb. It was childish. It was petty. It’s something a five year old would do, not a president of the United States. But it shows how unserious they are.”
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