Vice President JD Vance predicted on Wednesday that the federal government shutdown would be quick because moderate Democrats were already ‘cracking.’
Vance appeared alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House press briefing, the first since the government shutdown began.
He was asked if the shutdown would be lengthy due to Republicans claiming that Democrats want to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants and Democrats saying the Republicans are lying. Democrats have resisted passing a funding bill over expiring Obamacare subsidies, which cannot be utilized by illegal immigrants.
‘I can’t predict what congressional Democrats are going to do,’ Vance said before answering, ‘I actually don’t think it’s going to be that long of a shutdown.’
‘This is a pure guess from the Vice President of the United States because I think you already saw some evidence that moderate Democrats are cracking a little bit,’ he added.
The betting site Polymarket on Wednesday found that most users weren’t as optimistic as Vance, with the fewest number of people betting the shutdown would only last a few days, and more than a third betting it would stretch longer than October 15.
On Wednesday afternoon, a Senate procedural motion on a House-passed spending bill that required 60 votes failed 55 to 45.
While there are 53 Republicans in the Senate, libertarian-leaning GOP Sen. Rand Paul voted against the motion, while three senators in the Democratic Caucus voted in favor – Sens. John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto and Angus King.
Fetterman and Cortez Masto hail from purple states, while King, a Maine independent who caucuses with the Democrats, is a bit of a maverick.
The next Senate vote isn’t expected until Friday, due to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, so the government shutdown will at least stretch until the end of the work week.
At the briefing, Vance pushed that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was pushing his party too far to the left and that’s why the shutdown occurred.
‘Chuck Schumer is terrified he’s going to get a primary challenge from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,’ Vance charged, name-dropping the 35-year-old New York congresswoman who’s extremely popular in progressive circles.
‘The reason why the American people’s government is shut down is because Chuck Schumer is listening to the far-left radicals in his own party because he’s terrified of a primary challenge,’ the vice president continued. ‘So I’d invite Chuck Schumer to join the moderate Democrats and 52 Senate Republicans, do the right thing, open up the people’s government, and then let’s fix healthcare policy for the American people.’
When it was her turn at the podium, Leavitt relished that Schumer hadn’t been able to hold his party together.
‘Sen. Schumer was not expecting three moderates to break with him last night,’ Leavitt said. ‘In fact, last night, you heard Sen. Schumer say he can’t guarantee that he will be able to hold his caucus together.’
The press secretary encouraged other Senate Democrats to buck the party.
‘And so again, we encourage Democrats to have the courage to do the right thing, do what you have done 13 times previously, and vote for this clean continuing resolution to keep the government funded,’ Leavitt said.
This time around, the White House has upped the ante by threatening to lay off federal workers when traditionally they’ve been furloughed.
President Donald Trump even hinted that he would try to target Democrats with firings, something Vance denied.
‘We’re not targeting federal agencies based on politics,’ he answered.
Vance was also pressed on why this time was ‘different’ – why federal employees were potentially facing being fired.
‘We haven’t made any final decisions about what we’re going to do with certain workers,’ Vance pushed back. ‘What we’re saying is we might have to take extraordinary steps.’
Leavitt said that the federal layoffs were ‘imminent.’
Read more
- Are Democrats starting to waver under pressure in the shutdown saga, as VP Vance hints at a looming resolution?
- Are federal workers scrambling to prepare for a government shutdown as talks break down over Democrats’ demands for health subsidies and public media funding?
- Will President Joe Biden and the Senate act swiftly to dodge a looming government shutdown unfolding at the eleventh hour?
- Will the U.S. government face another historic shutdown, or will last-minute negotiations save federal employees from an anxious holiday season?
- Will a dramatic government shutdown ensue as Trump pressures Republicans with the controversial SAVE Act amid fierce Democratic resistance?
