WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans and Democrats spent their federal first day Government closure From Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, the iconic locations representing the country’s core bell have been temporarily closed, and they blame each other for their dysfunction.
The Trump administration has joined the military as vice president. jd vance To appear in the White House briefing room to claim Democrats refused to maintain government funds; Expand health compensation Illegal to the people of the country.
Top Democrats retorted that they simply wanted to renew their funds under healthcare subsidies. Affordable Care Methods By becoming Insurance premiums won’t increase dramatically Nationwide for American families.
Neither side said it would be upsetting, but the more likely it would spread financial pain as the pointed finger continued.
“We’re going to have to fire people.”
Callers to the White House comment line heard a recorded message from a press secretary Karoline Leavitt “Congressional Democrats have shut down the federal government because they are more interested in funding health care for illegal immigrants than they care about serving you, the people of America.” Several federal agencies have posted openly partisan messages on their websites.
The White House highlighted the debate by reviving the president’s deepfake video Donald Trump House Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries In fake mustaches and sombreros, a meme that Jeffries described as prejudice. They performed it repeatedly in the White House Briefing Room, but Vance promised that “the Sombrero memes will stop” when the government opens again.
Jeffries responded with his own memes, layering Vance’s image over his fat head and long curly hair. “JD Vance believes he will surrender himself to the Republican efforts in healthcare for the Sombrero meme.
Vance said he couldn’t predict how long the shutdown would last, but he said he doesn’t believe it will be long as some moderate Senate Democrats may soon recover funding to their GOP colleagues.
“To be honest, if this is dragged over for a few more days or God forbids us, we’ll have to fire people for a few more weeks,” Vance said.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer New York has said Trump refused to negotiate in good faith and that his claim that Democrats would shut down the government for the country’s immigration was illegally false.
“Donald Trump is loud and clear. He uses Americans as pawns, threatening the pain of the country,” Schumer said.
almost 750,000 federal workers It was expected to be with some Potentially fired. Many The office was closedperhaps forever, a Republican president vows to “do irreversible things” to punish Democrats.
White House’s key policy priorities: offensive Deportation Agendayou can continue with almost confusion. but education, environment And other services can eventually splash out. Economic Fallout The already weakening of the job market could be even more at risk, as Wednesday’s employment report by payroll processor ADP showed that it cut 32,000 jobs last month.
The Trump administration has also begun targeting democratic finance projects.
White House Budget Director Russ Vert On Wednesday, it announced a pending payment of approximately $18 billion to build two important projects for Schumer: the Hudson Railroad Tunnel and the Second Avenue Metro Line in New York City. He later announced that all states represented by two Senate Democrats would withhold a nearly $8 billion green energy project between 16 states.
Mixed polling
The last government closure It came between the second half of 2018 and early 2019 during Trump’s first administration. It continued for more than 30 days, focusing on the battle between the parties over funding the wall along the border between Mexico and the US. However, since Congress had already passed separate funding measures, it was guaranteed that the closure had only partially affected government services and had not been so widely used.
Trump took most of the blame for the final shutdown. AP-NORC votes held during that timeabout seven in 10 Americans said Donald Trump is “very” or “significant” responsibility.
Now, about two-thirds of registered voters in the recent New York Times/Siena poll conducted prior to the closure said Democrats should not allow the government to halt even if their demands are not met.
Still, Republicans as a party in the administration could face blowback. About a quarter of registered voters in that poll said they would blame Trump and Congressional Republicans if the closure occurred, but about two in ten said they would be responsible for Congressional Democrats. About a third said they would denounce both sides equally.
Shutdown begins to settle
The federal court will remain fully operational until at least October 17th, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its potentially life-saving forecasts not disrupted.
However, Liberty Bell tours were discarded, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the Presidential Library and Museum in Boston were closed. Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor National Memorial was closed Wednesday, but authorities have reopened in collaboration with nonprofit partners.
Maine’s Acadia National Park receives 4 million visitors a year, but has become a hiker looking for trail maps and checked empty containers outside the closed visitor center. With Park Rangers invisible, Jim Feather and his wife of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, were not sure about working on Cadillac Mountain with panoramic views of the North Atlantic coast.
“It’s frustrating to see them doing politics in DC,” Feather said. “Their job is to pass on the budget, and if they’re not doing their job, what are they doing there?”
– Associated Press authors Lindsay Whitehurst and Darlene Superyu in Washington, Jennifer Kelleher of Honolulu, Alexa St. John of Detroit, and Robert F. Bucati of Acadia National Park contributed to the report.
