WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats remained in a standoff over the weekend over the government shutdown, which entered its sixth week. Food aid for millions of Americans could be delayed or suspended, and President Donald Trump urged Republican leaders to change Senate rules to end the deadlock.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump spoke with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he has publicly and repeatedly pushed for an end to the filibuster in the Senate. But Republicans have strongly rejected Trump’s demands since his first term, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate was critical to the institution and allowed them to stop Democrats’ policies when they were in the minority.
Leavitt said Sunday that Democrats are “crazy people” who have shown no signs of changing.
“That’s why President Trump has said that Republicans have to get tough, they have to get smart and they have 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 have voted against reopening the government thirteen times, denying Republicans a 53-47 vote in the Senate as they insist on negotiating an extension of federal health care subsidies that will be eliminated at the end of the year. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government reopens.
With the two parties at a standstill, the shutdown, now 33 days long, appears likely to be the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019 when Trump asked Congress to give him money for a US-Mexico border wall.
A potentially crucial week
Trump’s push for the filibuster could prove a distraction for Thune and Republican senators, who have instead opted to stay the course as the fallout from the shutdown has become more acute, including more 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 eventually give them the votes they need as they repeatedly vote on a bill to reopen the government. Democrats have held together so far, but some moderates have been negotiating with rank-and-file Republicans over possible compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five additional Democrats to pass their bill.
“We need five with backbone who will say we care more about the lives of the American people than political influence,” Thune said on the Senate floor as the Senate left Washington for the weekend on Thursday.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that a group of people were talking about “a path to solving the health care debacle” and a commitment from Republicans not to lay off more federal workers. However, it is still unclear whether these talks could lead to a meaningful compromise.
The coming week could also be crucial for Democrats as the open enrollment period for health care marketplaces governed by the Affordable Care Act began Nov. 1 and people are already starting to see spikes in premium costs for next year, meaning it may be too slow to make immediate changes. Democrats are also watching the results of the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday.
No desire for bipartisanship
While Democrats pushed Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump showed little interest in doing so. He immediately called for an end to the Senate filibuster after a trip to Asia while the government was closed.
Leavitt said Sunday that the president had spoken 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 calling 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 it “is a reflection of all our desperation,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Trump spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats and posting videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Mexican sombrero. The White House website features a satirical “My Space” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site that was popular in the early 2000s. “We just love playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” the site says.
Democrats have repeatedly said they need Trump to get involved. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said he hoped the shutdown could end “this week” because Trump was back in Washington.
Republicans “can’t get anywhere without Trump’s approval,” Warner said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Record-breaking shutdown
The 35-day shutdown, which lasted from December 2018 to January 2019, ended when Trump backed away from his demands for a border wall. This came amid increasing delays at the country’s airports and multiple missed paychecks for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
Transport Minister Sean Duffy told ABC’s This Week that there had already been delays at several airports because air traffic controllers were not being paid, “and it’s only getting worse.”
Many of the workers are “facing a decision,” he said. “Do I put food on my children’s table, put gas in the car, pay my rent, or go to work and not get paid?”
As flight delays mounted across the country, the City of New York’s Emergency Management Department announced Sunday that Newark Airport was experiencing a ground delay due to a “shortage of staff in the control tower” and that arrivals at the airport would be narrow.
“The average delay is about two hours, and some flights are delayed by more than three hours,” the account said. “The FAA’s planning notes indicate the possibility of a full stop later if staffing shortages or increased demand occur.”
SNAP crisis
Also in the crossfire are the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. The Agriculture Department planned to withhold $8 billion needed for payments to the food program starting Saturday until two federal judges ordered the government to fund it.
House Democratic leader Jeffries accused Trump and Republicans of trying to “weaponize hunger.” He said the government had managed to find ways to fund other priorities during the shutdown but was moving slowly toward enforcing SNAP benefits despite the court orders.
“But somehow they can’t find money to make sure Americans don’t go hungry,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in his own CNN appearance on Sunday that the government continues to wait for instructions from the courts.
“The best way to pay out SNAP benefits is for Democrats – if five Democrats walk down the aisle and reopen the government,” Bessent said.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
