WASHINGTON: The White House has warned of imminent public sector firings as efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed on Wednesday.
Democrats in Congress rejected proposals to resolve an acrimonious funding stand-off with President Donald Trump.
Federal departments have been closing since midnight after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the government funded.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration was working with agencies to identify where cuts could be made.
“We believe that layoffs are imminent,“ Leavitt stated during the briefing.
Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough with pay withheld until they return to work.
Essential workers including military personnel and border agents may be forced to work without pay.
Some employees will likely miss paychecks next week as the shutdown continues.
Senate Democrats refused to help majority Republicans approve a House-passed bill that would have reopened the government for several weeks.
Democrats are demanding extended health care subsidies for low income families as part of any funding agreement.
Vice President JD Vance made a rare appearance in the White House briefing room to upbraid Democrats over their demands.
“They said to us, ‘we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens,‘” Vance stated.
“That’s a ridiculous proposition,“ the vice president added.
US law currently bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have already passed a stop-gap funding fix to keep federal functions running through late November.
The 100-member Senate does not have the 60 votes required to send the House bill to Trump’s desk.
Senate Republican leaders need eight Democrats to join the majority and rubber-stamp the House-passed bill.
They managed to get three moderate Democrats to cross the aisle in an initial vote on Tuesday.
Republican leaders had hoped to peel off five more Democrats as the shutdown chaos started to bite.
Wednesday’s vote result went exactly the same way as the previous day with insufficient Democratic support.
Talks between the parties have been unusually bitter with Trump mocking Democratic leaders on social media.
The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns with Trump racing to enact hard-right policies.
These policies include slashing government departments and potentially turning furloughs into mass firings.
Congress is out Thursday for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday but the Senate returns to work on Friday.
The Senate may remain in session through the weekend while the House is not due back until next week.
This shutdown marks the first since a record 35-day pause in 2019 during Trump’s first term.
Shutdowns are unpopular because multiple services used by ordinary voters become unavailable.
National parks and permit applications are among the services affected by the funding lapse.
Terese Johnston, a 61-year-old retired tour guide visiting Washington from California, expressed frustration with the political impasse.
“I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people and find a way to make things not happen like this,“ Johnston said.
“You compromise. You find ways. So everybody gives a little bit, everybody takes a little bit, and things work.” – AFP