The U.S. authorities was on track Tuesday to shut down after midnight as Republicans and Democrats in Congress each refused to budge from their opposing positions on a funding deal that would keep away from that consequence.
Lawmakers took to the airwaves to blame one another for the looming shutdown, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would outcome within the furlough of about 750,000 federal workers.
“The total daily cost of their compensation would be roughly $400 million,” the CBO mentioned in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who had requested workplace calculate the monetary fallout to federal staff if furloughs occur.
“The number of furloughed employees could vary by the day because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees,” the letter mentioned.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, throughout an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” mentioned Democrats “need to come to their senses here, and do the right thing.”
Johnson, R-La., mentioned that high Democrats — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, each of New York — have “painted themselves into a corner” by making coverage calls for in change for passing a funding invoice that may hold the federal government open for at the least seven weeks.
Those calls for, Johnson mentioned, are irrelevant to the pressing want to move that persevering with decision.
Democrats are insisting that any persevering with decision to hold the federal government funded within the close to time period embrace an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credit.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks throughout a rally with members of the Democratic caucus about how a authorities shutdown would negatively impact well being care protection, on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, September 30, 2025.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Those credit, which decrease the price of medical insurance premiums paid by thousands and thousands of Americans who purchase protection on ACA exchanges, are due to expire on the finish of 2025.
Johnson accused Democrats of making an attempt to defend Schumer’s “backside” by urgent that and different calls for.
He mentioned Schumer and different Democratic leaders have been involved that Schumer would change into weak to challenges to his place and House seat by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a pacesetter of the occasion’s progressive wing, if they didn’t maintain agency in opposition to Republican calls for for a “clean” persevering with decision with none provisions for health-care protections.
Johnson mentioned a debate about how to reform the ACA — popularly often known as Obamacare — might occur later.
And he accused Democrats of wanting to give undocumented immigrants federal well being advantages.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., in a separate interview with “Squawk Box,” known as the query of ACA tax credit score extension “a made-up problem by the Democrats,” who’re making an attempt to fulfill a voter base that’s opposed to President Donald Trump.
“This is Donald Trump,” Thune mentioned. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Jeffries, in his personal interview on “Squawk Box,” mentioned of Republicans, “If the government shuts down, it’s their decision to do it.”
“We are ready and willing and able to find a bipartisan way forward,” Jeffries mentioned.
But he mentioned Democrats are unwilling to assist a invoice that doesn’t embrace health-care protections.
“We will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people,” Jeffries mentioned.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks throughout a press convention alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), following a gathering between the Congressional Democratic leaders and President Trump and Congressional Republican management on funding the federal government, exterior of the White House in Washington DC, United States on September 29, 2025.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images
He mentioned that on Wednesday, “notices are going to start going out” to tens of thousands and thousands of Americans about greater insurance coverage premiums that they’ll pay if the ACA subsidies will not be prolonged.
“We are fighting to deal with the health care of the American people,” Jeffries mentioned.
Asked by CNBC’s Becky Quick, “Is it true you want to restore American taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants?” Jeffries replied, “Of course not.”
“And thank you for asking that question, because this is also an outright lie,” Jeffries mentioned.
“Federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to provide medical coverage to undocumented individuals,” he mentioned. “That’s the law, and there is nothing in anything that we have proposed that is trying to change that law.”