Shutdown stalemate set to drag into sixth week as Trump pushes Republicans to change Senate rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked in election government shutdown As the weekend enters its sixth week Food aid could potentially be delayed or suspended for millions of Americans, and President Donald Trump is pushing GOP leaders to change Senate rules to end it.

Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday. Pressed publicly and repeatedly to end the Senate filibuster. But Republicans have vehemently rejected Trump’s calls since his first term. Rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objection His presence in the Senate is vital to the institution and allows them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority.

Leavitt said Sunday that Democrats are “crazy people” who show no signs of budging.

“So President Trump said Republicans need to act tough, they need to be smart, and they need to use this option to get rid of the filibuster, reopen the government, and do right by the American public,” Leavitt said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.

Democrats voted thirteen times against reopening the government, rejecting it in the 53-47 Senate as Republicans insisted on negotiations. Expanding government health care subsidies It will be discontinued at the end of this year. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government reopens.

With bipartisanship at a standstill, the shutdown, now in its 33rd day, looks likely to be the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019, when Trump demanded that Congress give him money to build a wall on the US-Mexico border.

A potentially decisive week

Trump’s crackdown on fraud could be a distraction for Thune and Republican senators, who instead opt to stay the course as the consequences of the shutdown become more severe, including missed paychecks for air traffic controllers and other government workers and uncertainty over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Republicans are hoping that at least some Democrats will finally give them the votes they need, as they have voted repeatedly on a bill to reopen the government. Democrats have held together so far, but some moderates have been in talks with rank-and-file Republicans about possible compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five more Democrats to pass the bill.

“We need five people with backbones to say we care about the lives of the American people more than gaining political influence,” Thune said in a speech on the Senate chamber Thursday as the Senate left Washington for the weekend.

Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that a group of people were talking about “a way to fix the health care debacle” and Republicans’ pledge not to lay off any more federal workers. But it is still unclear whether these talks will lead to a meaningful compromise.

Next week could also be crucial for Democrats, as the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act’s managed care marketplaces opens on Nov. 1 and people are already seeing spikes in premium costs for next year; This means it may be too late to make immediate changes. Democrats are also watching the results gubernatorial elections Tuesday in Virginia and New Jersey.

There is no appetite for bipartisanship

While Democrats were pushing Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump showed: There’s not much interest in doing that.. After a while, he called for an end to the filibuster in the Senate. journey to asia while the government was shut down.

Leavitt said Sunday that the president spoke to both Thune and Johnson about the filibuster. But a spokesman for Thune said Friday that his position had not changed, and Johnson said Sunday that Republicans have traditionally resisted calls for an end to the filibuster because it protects them from “the worst impulses of the far-left Democratic Party.”

Trump’s call to end this is “a reflection of all our desperation,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday.

Trump spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats, posting videos of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a message. mexican fedora hat. The White House website has a satirical “My Space” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site popular in the early 2000s. “We like to play politics with people’s livelihoods,” the page reads.

Democrats have repeatedly said Trump needs to weigh in. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said he hoped the shutdown would end “this week” now that Trump is back in Washington.

Warner said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Republicans “can’t proceed with anything without Trump’s approval.”

Record breaking closure

35 day closure The tension, which lasted from December 2018 to January 2019, ended when Trump withdrew his demands for the border wall. This comes amid increasing delays at the nation’s airports and hundreds of thousands of federal workers missing paydays.

Transport Minister Sean Duffy said on “This Week” that many airports were already experiencing delays due to non-payment of air traffic controllers and “the situation is only going to get worse”.

He said most workers were “faced with a decision.” “They make decisions: Should I put food on my children’s table, should I put gas in the car, should I pay my rent, or should I go to work and not get paid?”

“I encourage them all to come to work. I want them to come to work, but they’re making life decisions they shouldn’t be making,” Duffy said.

SNAP crisis

Also caught in the crossfire are 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. Ministry of Agriculture It was planned to stop the $8 billion required for payments Food program starting on Saturday two federal judges ordered The administration will finance this.

House Democratic Leader Jeffries accused Trump and Republicans of trying to “weaponize hunger.” He said the administration has managed to find ways to fund other priorities during the shutdown but has been slow to move forward on delaying SNAP benefits despite court orders.

“But somehow they can’t find the money to keep Americans from going hungry,” Jeffries said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNN on Sunday that the administration continues to await direction from the courts.

“The best way for Democrats to get SNAP benefits paid out is for five Democrats to cross the aisle and reopen the government,” Bessent said.

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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.