🔗 Share this article

The Republican House speaker Mike Johnson charged the opposing party of being “not serious” in negotiations to end the federal government shutdown, entering its fifth day with projections indicating it will continue into next week or longer.

Negotiations among the opposing political parties stalled over the weekend, and no legislative action expected to end the standoff. Survey data found only 28% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans believe their party’s stance worth shutting down the government.

In his comments on a major news program, the speaker claimed the House fulfilled its duties by passing a measure for government funding and now the responsibility lies with the Senate “to turn the lights back on enabling federal employees to resume work”. He accused Democrats with not participating “in a serious negotiation”.

“This strategy to get political cover because the Senate leader is afraid losing his next re-election bid in the Senate because he’s going to be challenged by a progressive candidate from New York, as this is becoming trendy out there,” he remarked, mentioning the Bronx representative potentially challenging the incumbent senator for his seat in the coming election.

However, the minority leader, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, responded on the same show that a Republican senator lied last week by asserting Democrats were being dishonest about their intentions related to medical coverage for immigrants without documentation.

“GOP members are deceitful because they’re losing in public support,” Jeffries said, noting his party was “standing up for medical care for American workers, of working-class Americans, for the middle class”.

The minority leader also addressed to comments from the ex-president in a social media post in which he called Democrats the party of “hate, evil, and Satan” alongside pictures of party figures, including left-leaning lawmakers, the Senate leader, the previous House speaker, and the ex-president and his wife.

When asked about continuing talks with the former president, Jeffries responded the ex-president’s conduct “is shocking, it’s irrational, it’s unreasonable, and is self-explanatory. Citizens deserve better than lies, hostilities, than deepfake videos and a leader devoting excessive time to golfing.”

Top political figures have not had formal talks for almost a week as both seek to secure political advantage ahead of renewed discussions.

Jeffries stated following their last discussion last Monday, “GOP leaders, along with the ex-president, have ceased communication and the Democratic party leadership “will continue to make clear, both the Senate leader and I, that we are ready to meet whenever and wherever, with all parties to resolve this matter with the earnestness that it deserves”.

The battle for high political ground persisted through Sunday with Johnson claiming that the possibility for temporary government job suspensions, known as furloughs, hardening into permanent job layoffs “is a regrettable situation the administration wishes to avoid”.

A senior administration economic official ramped up pressure against Democrats, saying the administration will start mass layoffs of federal workers should the leader determine discussions with the opposition are “absolutely going nowhere”.

The adviser told a Sunday talk show that the administration “are lining things up and ready to take action if necessary, but hoping to avoid it”. However, he suggested there’s a chance that Democrats could back down.

“I think that everybody is still hopeful that when we get a new beginning early this week, that we can get the Democrats to see that it’s just common sense to prevent job losses of that nature,” the official commented.

However, concerns exist Democrats have walked into a trap. The speaker stated Sunday that the president requested Democratic leaders to maintain government operations.

“Under these circumstances, where the Senate Democrats choosing to hand the keys to the kingdom to the administration, they must take tough decisions,” he said, referencing the budget director.

The management official, the speaker stated, “has to now look at all of the federal government, acknowledging the funding streams are discontinued and determine what are essential programs, operations, and staff. This isn’t a task he enjoys. But he’s being required to do it by the Senate leader.”

The cycle of blame continued with the Democratic leader stating on television that Johnson avoids discussing the actual problem, the healthcare crisis facing the American people. Therefore he creates all these fake lies to distract the public.”

However, during a discussion set to broadcast on Monday, Johnson told another news network he considers the problem of ending health subsidies – which Democrats prioritize to their negotiating position – as something resolvable later.

“We essentially have a quarter-year for discussions with the administration and in the hall of Congress, that’s ample time,” Johnson said. “We require participants in good faith to negotiate together and have that discussion. And we can’t do it when the government is shut down,” he added.

A prominent Democratic senator appearing on the same news program was questioned whether his party members in the Senate remain unified after three Democratic senators defected to support GOP measures. The senator said he was confident that all party members recognize that millions and millions of their voters are about to be priced out of their healthcare”.

“We require a leader who behaves maturely, who can come to the table and negotiate an end to this manufactured healthcare emergency,” he stated. “Right now we don’t see that. We observe the ex-leader golfing frequently, we notice the House leader instructing representatives to skip legislative sessions, that there’s no work for the federal government to do.”