US government on brink of first shutdown in almost 7 years during partisan standoff

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A partisan standoff over health care and spending is threatening to trigger the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years, with Democrats and Republicans in Congress unable to find agreement even as thousands of federal workers stand to be furloughed or laid off.

The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday if the Senate does not pass a House measure that would extend federal funding for seven weeks while lawmakers finish their work on annual spending bills. Senate Democrats say they won’t vote for it unless Republicans include an extension of expiring health care benefits, among other demands. President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans say they won’t negotiate, arguing that it’s a stripped-down, “clean” bill that should be noncontroversial.

It’s unclear if either side will blink before the deadline.

“It’s only the president who can do this. We know he runs the show here,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday morning after a bipartisan White House meeting the day before yielded little apparent progress. Schumer said Republicans are trying to “bully” Democrats by refusing to negotiate.

https://apnews.com/article/shutdown-senate-schumer-thune-trump-health-care-b85fe6cdd5d8cdc3e3aa1f4ae889474f

‘We’re headed to a shutdown’: White House meeting ends with no deal as deadline nears

WASHINGTON — Democratic and Republican lawmakers remained far apart Monday with just over 24 hours until a federal government shutdown begins, after a White House meeting with President Donald Trump and congressional leaders meant to spur negotiations.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries emerged from the White House just after 4:30 p.m. Eastern still entrenched in their positions.

Democrats are demanding promises to lower rising health care costs, and Republicans are pushing for a “clean” stopgap bill to keep the government running through mid-November.

Schumer said he believed “for the first time the president heard our objections,” but “large differences” remained.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/09/29/repub/were-headed-to-a-shutdown-white-house-meeting-ends-with-no-deal-as-deadline-nears/