WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Monday that the federal government shutdown could become the longest in history and said he “won’t negotiate with Democrats” until they pause on their health demands and reopen.
As the speaker stood alone in the Capitol on the 13th day of the shutdown, he said he knew nothing about the details of the Trump administration’s firing of thousands of federal workers. It is a highly unusual mass layoff that is widely seen as a way to exploit the shutdown to limit the government’s freedom of action. Vice President JD Vance has warned of “painful” cuts ahead, even as employee unions sue.
“We are headed for one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” Johnson said from Louisiana.
With no end result in sight, the shutdown is expected to last indefinitely. The shutdown has brought routine government operations to a halt, shuttered Smithsonian museums and other key cultural institutions and burdened airports with flight disruptions, adding more uncertainty to an already precarious economy.
The House of Representatives has canceled its legislative session because Johnson refuses to call lawmakers back to Washington, while the Senate, closed on Monday for the federal holiday, will resume work on Tuesday. But senators are stuck in a deadlock of failed votes as Democrats refuse to budge on their demands for health care.
Johnson thanked President Donald Trump for ensuring military personnel are paid this week, removing a key pressure point that may have pushed the parties to the negotiating table.
At its core, the shutdown is a debate about health care policy — and specifically the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are expiring for millions of Americans who rely on government aid to buy their own health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges. The Democrats are calling for an expansion of subsidies, the Republicans argue that the issue can be clarified later.
Given the stalemate in Congress and the White House, some see the end of the month as the next potential date for the government to reopen.
Then, on November 1, open enrollment for the health care program in question begins, and Americans face the prospect of skyrocketing insurance premiums. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that monthly costs would double if Congress does not extend subsidy payments that expire Dec. 31.
It is also the case that government employees on monthly salaries, including thousands of domestic workers, are going without a paycheck.
The health care debate has preoccupied Congress since the passage of the Affordable Care Act under then-President Barak Obama in 2010.
The country experienced a 16-day government shutdown during Obama’s presidency as Republicans attempted to repeal the 2013 Affordable Care Act.
Trump attempted to “repeal and replace” the law, commonly known as Obamacare, during his first term in 2017 with Republican majorities in the House and Senate. This attempt failed when then-Sen. Memorably, John McCain voted for the plan with a thumbs down.
With 24 million people now enrolled in Obamacare, a record, Johnson said Monday that it was unlikely Republicans would go down that route again, noting that he still suffers from “PTSD” since that botched moment.
“Can we completely repeal and replace Obamacare? Many of us are skeptical about that now because the roots run so deep,” Johnson said.
The Republican spokesman emphasized that his party was ready to discuss the health issue with the Democrats in the fall before the subsidies expire at the end of the year. But first, he said, Democrats must agree to reopen the government.
The longest shutdown during Trump’s first term over his demands for funds to build the US-Mexico border wall ended after 35 days in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is exercising wide latitude both in firing workers — drawing complaints from Republican colleagues and lawsuits from employee unions — and in determining who gets paid.
That means that not just military troops, but other Trump administration priorities won’t necessarily go without pay, thanks to various other funding sources as well as the billions made available in Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is now law.
The Pentagon said over the weekend it would be able to exploit $8 billion in unused research and development funds to pay military personnel. They risked missing their paycheck on Wednesday. But the Department of Education is also the hardest hit as it disrupts special education, after-school programs and others.
“The administration could also choose to use mandatory appropriations provided for in the 2025 Reconciliation Act or other mandatory funding sources to continue activities funded by these direct appropriations across various agencies,” according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO had named the Department of Defense, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget as those receiving certain funding under the law.
“Some of the funds provided directly by DoD under the 2025 Reconciliation Act could be used to pay active-duty personnel during a shutdown, thereby reducing the number of exempt workers who would receive delayed compensation,” CBO wrote in a letter in response to questions from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
