Government shutdown appears unavoidable after White House meeting fails to produce deal

Amna Nawaz:

A federal government shutdown in less than a day-and-a-half appears unavoidable after a meeting between President Trump and congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle failed to produce a deal this afternoon.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY):

It's up to the Republicans whether they want a shutdown or not. We have made to the president some proposals. Our Republican leaders will have to talk to them about them, but ultimately he's the decision-maker.

J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing. I hope they change their mind, but we're going to see.

Amna Nawaz:

White House correspondent Liz Landers and congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins join us now with more on the impasse.

So, Liz, just start us off with that meeting. Tell us what happened at the White House.

Liz Landers:

Yes, Amna, no breakthrough here in terms of avoiding a government shutdown that could come tomorrow, Tuesday at midnight. And if you are listening to the vice president there, that sound bite that you just played, he's foreshadowing that we could be headed into this shutdown.

It was notable that Vice President Vance came out, led the Republican congressional leadership in addressing the media there today, placing the blame again on Democrats. And he discussed some of the policy differences that still stand between the administration and Democrats. Listen to what he said earlier.

J.D. Vance:

The principle at stake here is very simple. We have disagreements about tax policy, but you don't shut the government down. We have disagreements about health care policy, but you don't shut the government down. You don't use your policy disagreements as leverage.

Liz Landers:

And the vice president really speaking on behalf of the administration today. We saw President Trump was very focused on that foreign leader visit with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel.

We heard a little bit from the president earlier today on this shutdown, again criticizing Democrats more and saying that their ideas to keep the government open aren't good, Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa, meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, I know you have been speaking with lawmakers since that meeting. Your reporting shows both sides are digging in. Why?

Lisa Desjardins:

Well, this is unusual for the Republican Party because so often they have been the one sort of getting into the shutdown. They know that the party which has demands in going into a shutdown is usually one that loses with the public.

They know that because that's often been them. So they think this is an opportunity to make the Democrats look like they aren't serious about governing. But Democrats, on the other hand, do have important policy priorities here. At the top of their list is one where they think they have an advantage and which is pressing, health care.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY):

We're deadly serious about addressing the Republican-caused health care crisis because it's a deadly serious issue for the American people, largest cuts in Medicaid in American history, hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health clinics closing right now.

Lisa Desjardins:

Now, also something that is critical about this right now is that it's a political test. When you look at the five leaders who met today at the White House, of those five leaders, only two of them have ever been in this position before, President Trump and Chuck Schumer.

So it's a test also of leadership.

Liz Landers:

I think I lost IFB.

Amna Nawaz:

Liz, I'm not sure if you can still hear us. Let's see if Liz Landers is still with us. I wanted to ask you about the politics Lisa just mentioned there.

This is a stark difference for President Trump from the shutdown negotiations of his first term. How is the president and the White House looking at this time around? Amna,

Liz Landers:

back in 2018, President Trump oversaw, was the president during the largest — the longest government shutdown in U.S. history from 2018 that spanned into 2019. And at that time, he took responsibility for the shutdown. He said in a meeting with Leaders Schumer and Speaker Pelosi at the time that he was accepting responsibility for shutting down the government because of border security.

This time, we are hearing a very different tune from the president. He has repeatedly blamed Democrats over and over. And a former White House official that I spoke with a few days ago who worked in the first Trump administration noted that it seems like they, the current White House, has learned their lesson on messaging from the first time around from the first Trump administration.

And, Amna, earlier today — or yesterday, rather, President Trump hinted that some of these shutdowns could impact federal workers in terms of a reduction in force. We had talked about that last week, the administration outlining that they may permanently be able to fire people using these — this mechanism, the reduction in force mechanism.

We got new guidance today from the administration that seems to confirm that even more. It says — quote — "The OMB has determined that agencies are authorized to direct employees to perform work necessary to administer the RIF process during the lapse in appropriations."

And, Amna, the vice president was asked about federal workers potentially getting fired just a few moments ago here outside of the White House. He did not directly answer that question, saying, we have to keep essential services functioning as well as possible.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa, meanwhile, we know obviously the politics is one piece of it. The impact matters to so many more. Remind us what is at stake here.

Lisa Desjardins:

Yes, let's look at the workers, first of all.

We have roughly two million federal workers that could be impacted. We don't yet know what the agency-per-agency plan is. We know there are about 1.3 million active-duty military. They will be furloughed, be working. And what that means is no pay during the shutdown, but you would get back pay.

Contractors — there are probably more than a million federal contractors. They would not be paid and also not be paid back. It's key some big things like Social Security will keep going. We are going to be talking a lot more about this in days ahead, Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, Lisa Desjardins on Capitol Hill, Liz Landers at the White House for us tonight, thank you both.