The federal government is shut down tonight after a deadlocked Congress failed to strike a last-minute deal on funding With another Senate vote earlier today to end the stalemate failing just hours into the closure Democrats and Republicans are at odds over expiring health care subsidies with leaders of both parties lobbing the blame at each other roughly 750,000 federal workers will bear the brunt of the shutdown, with services from food safety to environmental protections grinding to a halt.

People who work military or security jobs, like airport personnel, will remain on the job.

It's the first government shutdown since 2018, during President Trump's first term, but with a more bitter partisan divide.

I spoke with U.S.

Senator Andy Kim earlier today about whether a breakthrough is inside.

Senator Kim, good to talk to you.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this, can you just walk us through what's happening here?

You're being pulled in and out of votes as I understand it.

What's taking place?

Yeah, right now, you know, right now, the leadership on the Republican side's trying to make us just vote on the same thing that we voted on yesterday.

We're really not seeing advancements in terms of negotiations, in part because while I am here at the United States Capitol right now, just down the hall, the House of Representatives is not even in session.

Speaker Johnson has given the Republicans there a free vacation.

They're continuing to get paid, even though federal workers and our military are not.

And they're not showing up to work, and they're not here to negotiate.

And I just really want to shine a light on that, because the American people deserve their leaders in Congress here negotiating, trying to find an end to this, rather than just going off and continuing to get a paycheck while you just sit at home.

Well, what's non-negotiable for you to change your vote and for the party?

What are those conversations looking like at this hour?

Well, look, right now, starting today, a lot of people across New Jersey, across the country, are getting some really tough news, which is that their health care premiums are skyrocketing.

We're looking at about 4.5 million Americans likely to lose their health care, a lot of them in New Jersey, as well as over 20 million Americans going to see their health care potentially double in terms of their premiums.

This is crushing a lot of families.

We've been trying to address this.

The Republicans say, oh, we'll get to it later on this year.

No, the open enrollment starts on November 1st.

It needs to happen now to be able to give these families some relief.

And then also, look, as we're making this discussion about the budget, well, we're also seeing just like a lawlessness with President Trump and his administration.

They're not even following through on the budget that we have passed before.

They're saying that they don't have to spend it all, that it's just guidance to them.

That is against the Constitution of the United States.

That gives Congress the ability to set our national budget.

So those are things that we're going to continue to push for as we stand up against, again, this lawlessness that we see on so many fronts.

Let me ask you about that, because we are just finding out today that the White House is planning to hold billions of dollars from the Gateway Tunnel Project and also the Second Avenue Subway Project.

It appears anyway to be targeting these projects that are in the New York area where you have your leaders, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, who represent that area.

How concerned are you about the level to which the White House might dismantle, as you've said, programs, but also withhold funding in this way?

And what powers of lever do you -- what levers of power do you have as a Congress to prevent that from going further?

Yeah.

Well, first and foremost, those types of actions, if meant for punishment and retribution, it's illegal.

And, again, I hope it shines a light on this for the American people to see and be able to see across the board, all across the political spectrum, that this is not how a president should act.

We will take all legal action we can to be able to stand up against that while we are also pushing on the legislative front to be able to do so.

And I'll be honest with you, a lot of my colleagues, including those on the Republican side that I've talked to today, when expressing some of these actions that are taking, they are uncomfortable with it too, because they know that this is against the law, this is against our constitution, that we have to have a separate but equal branch of government on the legislative side to be able to stand up.

And they don't want to see that kind of actions targeting their states under different administrations.

So yes, you know, this is something I hope the American people see when it comes to just their threats about firing federal workers, cutting programs.

This is what they're already doing.

So I mean, just I'll be honest with you, I think it's going to backfire on them when they just talk so openly about how much they despise the government and how they're trying to take it down.

This was a big reason why a lot of what Elon Musk did was so unpopular earlier this year.

Their efforts are already fired, hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

These threats to do more is really exposing just the recklessness of their actions.

I mean, all that being said, Democrats, they're framing this as Democrats being to blame for it.

In March, we should note Chuck Schumer, Senator Schumer, was criticized for making a deal, making that stopgap deal in order to keep the government open.

Is that part of the reason why the party's not willing to capitulate here?

How far are you all willing to go?

Yeah, look, I hope it shows that we are standing up to fight for our Constitution and for the health and the safety of our own constituents.

This is important.

We cannot just continue to let this slide and continue to have a president feel emboldened to just trample our Constitution on so many fronts, whether that's what we're seeing with free speech right now or the attacks that this president is doing on that, or just he gave a speech yesterday talking about how they're deploying military troops to different cities and he told these generals that our cities in America should be a training ground for our military.

I mean that is absolutely ridiculous and reckless.

One of the most dangerous things that I've heard a commander-in-chief say.

This cannot stand and the American people and certainly the people across New Jersey don't agree with this and so yes we need to push back on this president that is clearly overreaching clearly trying to denigrate our Constitution.

This is a president that does not believe in three separate and equal branches of government and he's done everything that he can to try to dominate the legislature and the judiciary to bend to his own will and that is something I swore an oath to protect this constitution and I will follow that oath and I will apply here in this case.

To get to the latter part of the question about how long you all are willing to last, is there a scenario where the party would accept temporary funding even if it comes without those policy wins as you've outlined, if it means getting the government opened faster, getting those civil servants their paychecks again faster?

Yeah, well first and foremost, I used to be a federal civil servant.

I worked through multiple shutdowns and didn't get paid for the work that I had while I was doing it.

I mean, it is hard.

So I recognize that.

And to the 750,000 that have been furloughed, to the many more that aren't getting paid even though they're showing up to work.

You know, I will say the fact that the president and members of Congress get paid during a shutdown is absurd, especially when they're not even showing up to work from the House Republican side.

It's why I'm foregoing my pay during this shutdown.

And I think that we need to show that we're not playing with other people's chips and that we need to make sure we understand what's at stake.

And when it comes to the negotiations, look, you know, I'm not going to go into the nuts and bolts of what may come down the road.

What we need to at least be in is actually in the room negotiating.

But as I said, my colleagues on the Republican side, they're not even in the building.

They're not even in D.C.

doing this, let alone in the room.

And I hope that the American people see that's an abdication of leadership.

I would go as far to say that Speaker Johnson is engaged in dereliction of duty of his responsibilities.

What are you hearing, though, from constituents?

I know you had a town hall last evening.

What are people telling you about what they want to see, what they're frustrated with?

Yeah, no, thanks for that.

Right after the vote, I decided to put together a town hall.

Over 6,000 people across New Jersey dialed in at last minute, and I think it shows just how much they're paying attention to this.

And I heard a lot of just absolutely difficult stories here.

Lucinda was telling me that she's somebody that won't be able to afford her health care if the premium subsidies go away.

She's alongside many others that are facing this, and it's a real catastrophe in terms of the care that people need.

There was another woman who was talking about the challenges that her family faces when it comes to people in their family with disabilities, but she, along with others, said, "You've got to hold the line."

You know, that we have to make sure that we're stepping up to be able to try to reassert stability and order in a country that feels so unmoored.

You know, people were just talking about how scared they are.

They're filled with anxiety.

You know, we're the richest, most powerful country in the world.

Why do we have such unpredictability and uncertainty?

And the president is driving that, fueling it.

And honestly, he is feeding off of it.

He benefits from the chaos that he is sowing.

And people don't want that in their lives anymore.

AMNA NAWAZ: Senator Andy Kim for us from Capitol Hill, thank you so much for taking the time.

We appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

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