US government shutdown: 'We need to reopen the government,' urges JD Vance, invites Democrats for 'discussion'

While addressing on the US government shutdown, Vice President JD Vance urged Democrats to join for a “discussion to reopen the government" amid the funding standoff between Trump and Democrats.

He also criticised what he called the “Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic Party” for stalling efforts to reopen it.

“Democrats say they care about lowering healthcare costs, but when President Trump took this action to work with drugs companies to lower prescription drug prices, the Democrats did not nothing to help us, in fact, we would have loved to have them helping us, but they talk about doing something, they don't actually do hard work to achieve, what they have done instead, is to shutdown the government,” Vance said, according to PTI.

He added, "The reason is despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Congressional Republicans and even a few moderate Democrats supported opening the government, the Chuck Schumer AOC wing of Democrat party shutdown the government because they said they will open the government, only if you give billions of dollars of funding for healthcare for illegal aliens, that's a ridiculous proposition... I would say let's have a discussion... We need to reopen the government."

Senate Democrats, pushing for extended healthcare subsidies for low-income families, declined to support a House-approved bill backed by the Republican majority that would have temporarily reopened the government during ongoing negotiations.

US government shutdown: ‘Imminent’ firings of federal workers

Meanwhile, the White House warned of "imminent" firings of federal workers, AFP reported. Nearly 750,000 federal employees are expected to be furloughed, a form of mandatory leave where pay is withheld until they are allowed to return to work.

Essential personnel, including members of the military and border agents, may be required to continue working without pay, with some likely to miss upcoming paychecks next week, the report noted.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told that the administration was "working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made... and we believe that layoffs are imminent."

While shutdowns are a recurring outcome of political gridlock in Washington, this marks the first since the historic 35-day closure in 2019 during Trump’s first term.

(With inputs from agencies)