A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
With only a few hours left until the official deadline, there is still no deal. Yesterday, President Trump met with top Republican and Democratic leaders at the White House, federal agencies will run out of money at midnight tonight.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Vice President JD Vance made it clear that the GOP would not agree to Democrats' demands to attach healthcare provisions to a spending bill.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JD VANCE: 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.
MARTIN: Vance also said he thinks we are heading toward a shutdown.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh is watching all this. So any way that you see to avoid a shutdown?
DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: I don't. I talked to lawmakers from both parties last night in the Capitol and they say there's still big differences. And positions really just hardened after that White House meeting. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is expected to bring up two bills for votes later today, a House-passed bill that extends current funding levels through November 21 and Democrats' alternative that attaches those health care changes. Both failed once before and are expected to fail again. Adding to this really polarized dynamic, the president taunted Democrats last night by posting a racist AI-generated video on his social media platform. It showed House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero. And it included this vulgar, deep-faked voiceover of the top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Now, Democrats are making this fight about health care, even though in the past, they have been the ones supporting stop gap bills. So what are they specifically looking for?
WALSH: Democrats want to extend the subsidies that are part of the Affordable Care Act that are expiring at the end of the year. They say people who are relying on those tax credits to help buy health care coverage aren't going to be able to afford it if those tax credits expire. I talked to Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who said Republicans who say they're not going to talk about this issue until after a funding bill passes are just ignoring the problem.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK: They must not be talking to the people I'm talking to in Georgia who are hurting and who cannot afford this astronomical hike that we're going to see in their health care premiums. People can't afford them.
MARTÍNEZ: Deirdre, what are Republicans saying about Democrats' posture here?
WALSH: You know, leader Thune called this effort to link health care to this short-term funding bill as hostage taking and hijacking. Some Senate Republicans I talked to last night said there are talks going on about legislation to deal with the health care subsidy issue, and they believe Congress can do that later this fall, but there is a split inside the Republican Party. One Senate Republican pointed out that although all Republicans voted against the Affordable Care Act when it was passed in 2010, a lot of their constituents rely on it now, so they believe they do need to find some kind of solution.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, so let's say a shutdown does begin tonight at midnight. What could the immediate impacts be?
WALSH: Well, programs like Social Security and Medicare are going to continue. Those are deemed essential. Same for the key national security functions. But some federal workers are going to be furloughed and are not going to get paid during a shutdown. This time around, President Trump's Office of Management and Budgets chief is signaling the administration is going to fire some federal workers instead of furloughing. Some programs aren't going to operate at all, like one distributing food aid. And we saw back in the last shutdown some TSA workers who weren't getting paid didn't show up for work, and that caused airport delays. It's also clear if there's a shutdown, there's really not a plan to get out of one, and it could last a while.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Thanks a lot.
WALSH: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
