WASHINGTON (AP) — Head Start programs for preschoolers nationwide are scrambling for federal funds. The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing its 1,400 employees. Thousands more federal workers are going without paychecks.
But as President Donald Trump welcomed Republican senators for lunch in the newly renovated Rose Garden Club — with construction underway on the new White House ballroom — he portrayed a different vision of America as a unified GOP refuses to yield to Democratic demands for health care funds, and the government shutdown drags on.
“We have the hottest country anywhere in the world, which tells you about leadership,” Trump said in opening remarks, extolling the renovations underway as senators took their seats in the newly-paved over garden-turned patio.
It was a festive atmosphere under crisp, but sunny autumn skies as senators settled in for cheeseburgers, fries and chocolates, and Trump’s favored songs — “YMCA” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — played over the new sound system.
And while Trump said the shutdown must come to an end — and suggested maybe Smithsonian museums could reopen — he signaled no compromise with Democrats over the expiring health care funds.
“From the beginning, our message has been very simple, we will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs,” Trump said.
As the government shutdown enters its fourth week — on track to become among the longest in U.S. history — millions of Americans are bracing for health care sticker shock while others are feeling the financial hit. Economists have warned the federal closure, leaving most of the 2.4 million-strong federal workforce without pay, will shave economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.
There are few signs of any end to the stalemate. Republicans say the Democrats are holding the government hostage, beholden to far-left demands to provide billions of dollars in health care subsidies.
“People keep saying ‘negotiate’ — negotiate what?” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the hour-long meeting. He said Republicans and the president are willing to consider discussions over health care, “but open up the government first.”
But Senate Democrats, emboldened after last weekend's mass “No Kings” rallies against Trump's leadership, are confident in their strategy. They have voted more than 10 times against a House-passed bill that would temporarily reopen the government until Republicans, including Trump, engage them on extending health care subsidies that expire at the end of the year.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said as GOP senators prepared to board buses to the White House, “Apparently, they've got plenty of time for a mini-pep rally with Donald Trump, In the meantime, the pain for Americans is getting more and more real.”
Missed paychecks and programs running out of money
While Capitol Hill remains at a standstill, the effects of the shutdown are worsening.
Federal workers are set to miss additional paychecks amid total uncertainty about when they might eventually get paid. Government services like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, and Head Start preschool programs that serve needy families are facing potential cutoffs in funding. On Monday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing its federal workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air traffic controller shortages and flight delays in cities across the United States.
At the same time, economists including Goldman Sachs and the nonpartisan CBO have warned that the federal government's closure will ripple through the economy. More recently, Oxford Economics said a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Small Business Administration supports loans totaling about $860 million a week for 1,600 small businesses. Those programs close to new loans during the shutdown. The shutdown also has halted the issuance and renewal of flood insurance policies, delaying mortgage closings and real estate transactions.
Rising health care costs
And without action, future health costs are expected to skyrocket for millions of Americans as the enhanced federal subsidies that help people buy private insurance under the Affordable Care Act, come to an end.
Those subsidies, in the form of tax credits that were bolstered during the COVID-19 crisis, expire Dec. 31, and insurance companies are sending out information ahead of open enrollment periods about the new rates for the coming year.
Most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, as they make decisions about next year’s health coverage.
Members of both parties acknowledge that time is running out to fix the looming health insurance price hikes, even as talks are quietly underway over possible extensions or changes to the ACA funding.
Democrats are focused on Nov. 1, when next year’s enrollment period for the ACA coverage begins and millions of people will sign up for their coverage without the expanded subsidy help. Once those sign-ups begin, they say, it would be much harder to restore the subsidies even if they did have a bipartisan compromise.
What about Trump?
Tuesday’s White House meeting will be a chance for Republican senators to engage with the president on the shutdown after he has been more involved in foreign policy and other issues.
Trump had previously indicated he may be willing to discuss the health care issue, and Democrats are counting on the president turning their way.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson had swiftly intervened and the president later clarified that he would only do so once the government reopens.
The president last week dismissed Democratic demands as “crazy,” adding, “We’re just not going to do it.”
“He needs to get off the sidelines, get off the golf course,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. “We know that House and Senate Republicans don’t do anything without getting permission from their boss, Donald J. Trump.”
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves and Matt Brown contributed to this report.