The first federal government shutdown in seven years began at midnight Tuesday, with both parties trading blame as negotiations collapsed.
Neither President Donald Trump and the Republican majority in Congress nor Democratic leaders agreed to compromise, resulting in a lapse in funding.
The shutdown has quickly escalated into a war of words, with each side accusing the other of intransigence. The standoff carries significant policy consequences and comes as next year’s congressional elections begin to take shape, Fox News reports.
“IT’S MIDNIGHT. That means the Republican shutdown has just begun because they wouldn’t protect Americans’ health care. We’re going to keep fighting for the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) posted on social media as the shutdown began.
But Republicans countered that it is Democrats who are refusing to back the same spending levels they previously supported.
“This is basically Chuck Schumer,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “He’s worried he’s going to get a primary challenge from AOC [Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez].”
Democrats have insisted that any deal to prevent or end the shutdown must include an extension of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) beyond the end of the year. The credits, used by millions of Americans to lower the cost of health insurance, are set to expire without congressional action.
Republicans have opposed the extension, arguing that the Democratic proposal would significantly expand taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits to immigrants living in the country illegally, Fox noted.
“I think it’s important for the American people to realize that the far-left faction of Senate Democrats shut down the government because we wouldn’t give them hundreds of billions of dollars for health care benefits for illegal aliens,” Vance said.
Schumer, speaking with FOX Business on Wednesday morning, argued that “the American people are on our side, completely and totally. They don’t want their healthcare decimated.”
And he charged that the White House and congressional Republicans “have refused to talk to us. They should come and talk to without conditions because the American people are suffering. Their health care is in shambles.”
Left unexplained by Schumer, however, is why healthcare continues to be an issue after his party claimed that Obamacare would “fix” the system — or why Democrats didn’t address the problems when they had completely control of Congress and the White House during Joe Biden’s first two years as president.
While both parties are under scrutiny during the shutdown, Schumer may be facing the greatest pressure. He has led Senate Democrats for nearly a decade and now confronts what some view as a second chance to prove his leadership.
Earlier this year, Schumer faced backlash from Democratic activists after siding with Republicans to avert a shutdown in the spring. Many in his party’s base have since pressed him to take a more confrontational stance against President Trump’s second-term agenda.
Schumer’s actions have raised questions about whether he could face a challenge to his leadership in the Senate over the next 15 months, as well as a potential primary challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) when he is up for reelection in 2028.
“There is one reason and one reason alone that Chuck Schumer is leading the Democrats off this cliff. He is trying to get political cover from the far-left corner of his base. He’s afraid of a challenge for his Senate seat by AOC or someone like that,” House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed in a Wednesday interview on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria.”
Fox added: “With the battles for the House and Senate majorities in next year’s midterm elections drawing closer, the blame-game over the shutdown quickly reached the campaign trail.”