by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – With just hours remaining before a partial government shutdown, talks between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders collapsed Monday without a deal, leaving federal agencies bracing for a funding lapse at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

Democratic and Republican leaders emerged from the high-stakes White House meeting pointing fingers at each other over the impasse, which centers on health care spending and the future of pandemic-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.

Vice President J.D. Vance accused Democrats of “hostage-taking,” saying they were willing to shut down the government unless Republicans agreed to a permanent extension of enhanced Obamacare subsidies and a rollback of Medicaid changes. “We’re not going to let Democrats shut down the government unless we give them everything they want,” Vance told reporters.

Democrats countered that Republicans were refusing to protect the health care of ordinary Americans. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the GOP proposal to pass a “clean” seven-week continuing resolution (CR) ignored the looming crisis of higher premiums, rural hospital closures, and Medicaid cuts. “Later means never,” Schumer warned. “Republicans don’t want to do this, but we have to get it done.”

The enhanced ACA subsidies, first expanded under COVID-19 relief measures, cap household insurance premiums at 8.5% of income. Without congressional action, the subsidies expire at year’s end, but notices of premium hikes–estimated at an average of $400 more per month–begin going out on October 1.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) rejected Democrats’ demand for more than $350 billion in new health spending as part of the short-term bill, saying the Democratic counteroffer amounted to $1.5 trillion in extra spending over 10 years. “We’re not going to do that,” Johnson said.

Trump, who has alternated in past shutdown battles between dealmaker and hardliner, listened closely to both sides but offered no commitments. Allies say he believes Democrats will ultimately shoulder the political blame if the shutdown begins.

The White House budget office, meanwhile, has instructed agencies to prepare furlough lists and contingency plans. Some lawmakers, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), voiced pessimism that any deal could be reached in time. “Nobody seems to think that there was anything good there,” she said after the talks.

If no agreement is reached, this would mark the first government shutdown since 2019, when a border security standoff produced the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

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