The federal government is shut down. Here’s why Democrats say Trump and Republicans are to blame

“Donald Trump and Republicans have now shut down the federal government because they do not want to protect the healthcare of the American people,” said U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

The federal government officially shut down at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, leaving federal workers without pay, and federal agencies shuttered.

But who is to blame for the federal shutdown depends on who you ask in the nation’s capital. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are pointing fingers at Democrats after the two parties failed to reach a bipartisan deal to fund the government past Oct. 1.

“After months of making life harder and more expensive, Donald Trump and Republicans have now shut down the federal government because they do not want to protect the healthcare of the American people,” U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement at exactly 12:01 a.m.

Jeffries said Democrats “remain ready to find a bipartisan path forward to reopen the government,” but only if Republicans work with them “in a way that lowers and addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.”

At the heart of the political deadlock on Capitol Hill is the Republicans’ refusal to give in to the Democrats’ demands to permanently extend the soon-to-be-expired tax credits under Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, that were passed during the pandemic to help insurance recipients afford their health care. Democrats are also pushing to restore more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that Republicans established in their unpopular “One, Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Trump and Republicans repeatedly accused Democrats of wanting to provide taxpayer health care to undocumented immigrants. However, federal law prohibits their eligibility, with exceptions for those with legal status, such as refugees and those seeking asylum.

Leader Jeffries excoriated Trump for taking personal shots at him rather than working with Democrats to avert the government shutdown. While Republicans control the White House, House, and Senate, their majority in the Senate is slim (53), leaving them without the needed votes (60) to pass a budget bill. Democrats argue that it requires Republicans to come to the negotiation table with Democrats to come to some middle ground.

“Over the last few days, President Trump’s behavior has become more erratic and unhinged. Instead of negotiating a bipartisan agreement in good faith, he is obsessively posting crazed, deep, fake videos,” said Jeffries, referring to a racist AI video Trump posted on social media targeting him and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“The country is in desperate need of an intervention to get out of another Trump shutdown,” said Jeffries.

Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the federal shutdown is “entirely of the Republican Party’s making.”

She lamented that, “unfortunately, Black communities will be forced to bear the brunt of their political games.”

Echoing Jeffries, Clarke said in a statement, “Instead of coming to the negotiating table to find a bipartisan solution to prevent Americans from losing life-saving healthcare, they left town. Instead of negotiating in good faith with Democratic leadership, President Trump cowardly posted racist deepfakes on the internet. This behavior shows the American people exactly who the Republicans are and where their priorities lie.”

Clarke said the fight to protect Medicaid and Medicare is worth fighting for, particularly because “1 in 5 Medicaid enrollees are Black” and the cuts will result in the closing of hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics across the country that rely on federal funding.

The CBC chairwoman also defended Democrats’ push to extend Obamacare tax credits, arguing that without it, premiums will drive up costs and push coverage “out of reach for many in our communities.”

She added, “And if that weren’t bad enough, they are gutting medical research on diseases that disproportionately impact Black Americans like heart disease and diabetes.”

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who held a press conference ahead of the shutdown alongside workers and families who would be impacted, said that President Trump and his “Republican co-conspirators” continue to “demonstrate contempt for the people and advance harmful policies that make people hungrier, poorer, sicker, and less safe.”

“As duly elected Members of Congress, it is not only our duty, but our obligation, to make life better for the people we serve. Instead, Republicans have shamefully pushed the country into a dangerous government shutdown, and our constituents deserve better,” said the congresswoman. “I refuse to accept this future as an inevitability, and I will continue to fight to reopen the government, keep essential services running, and mitigate the Republican-caused healthcare crisis.”