Vance: US headed for shutdown ‘because the Democrats won’t do the right thing’
Vice President Vance warned that the government is heading for a shutdown, blaming Democrats for a potential government funding lapse after a meeting with President Trump and congressional leaders at the White House.
“The principle at stake here is very simple. We have disagreements about tax policy, you don’t shut that government down. We have disagreements about health care policy, but you don’t shut the government down,” Vance told reporters after the meeting.
“You don’t use your policy disagreements as leverage to not pay our troops and not have essentials for services … you don’t say the fact that you disagree about a particular tax provision is an excuse for shutting down the people’s government and all the essential services that come along with it,” Vance added, laying the blame on Democrats if there is a shutdown.
The vice president described the position of Democrats as a putting a gun to Americans’ heads, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) similarly accused Democrats of “hostage taking” in their demands to avoid a government shutdown.
“You don’t put a gun to the American people’s head and say, unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we’re going to shut down your government,” Vance said.
He added, “I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing. I hope they change their mind.”
Vance and GOP leaders stressed that Republicans are united in their thinking on the shutdown, while Congress has until the end of the day Tuesday to avoid one.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said Trump appeared completely oblivious to the impending increase in health insurance premiums and the closure of dozens of small and rural hospitals when Democratic leaders laid out their demands for government funding during the White House meeting.
Democrats have been calling for an extension of enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year.
“By his face and by the way he looked, I think he heard about them for the first time,” Schumer said.
He outlined that he warned Trump that some families could see their health insurance premiums increase by as much as $400 a month if the enhanced insurance premium subsidies are allowed to expire at the end of the year and that dozens of smaller hospitals around the country could close as the result of Medicaid cuts enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.