‘Nothing to Negotiate’: GOP and Dems Dig In as Shutdown Grinds On

Karoline Leavitt said Trump's position is clear.
Sipa USA
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Monday! The government remains shut down with little to indicate that it will reopen anytime soon, but the Supreme Court today began its 2025-2026 term. On the docket are some key challenges to President Donald Trump's agenda, including cases to determine the legality of Trump "Liberation Day" tariffs, decide the fate of fired federal employees and establish whether Trump can oust Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook or other leaders at independent government agencies.

Here's your fiscal update to start the week.

'Nothing to Negotiate': Both Sides Dig In as Shutdown Grinds On

As the government shutdown stretches into its sixth day, the Senate voted Monday for the fifth time on a pair of bills that would fund the federal government. Once again, the vote on the bills - a Republican-backed one that has already passed the House and a second one backed by Democrats - fell short of the required 60 votes.

The White House continues to blame the shutdown on Democrats while threatening that government employees could start getting permanently laid off soon. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump told reporters that firings of federal workers were "taking place right now and it's all because of the Democrats," but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the president was referring to the hundreds of thousands of furloughs that have already taken place, even as planning for permanent layoffs is ongoing.

"The Office of Management and Budget is continuing to work with agencies on who, unfortunately, is going to have to be laid off if this shutdown continues," Leavitt said.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett warned Monday that Trump could "start taking sharp measures" if the shutdown continues. "If the Democrats refuse to keep the government open, then perhaps the efforts we've been making to make government more efficient will even accelerate," Hassett told CNBC, adding that Democrats will be responsible for "any government worker that loses their job" during the shutdown.

Hassett also said that an analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisers found that the shutdown is costing the U.S. economy about $15 billion a week, or about a tenth of a percent of gross domestic product.

Lawmakers not talking: Although Trump told reporters Monday afternoon that he is open to talking to Democrats and claimed that negotiations over "healthcare" are already occurring, party leaders are not holding formal talks about ending the shutdown at the moment, with key Republicans saying that negotiations over the 2026 budget and other issues are on hold until the government reopens.

Trump's "position is very clear," Leavitt told reporters. "There's nothing to negotiate, just reopen the government and then we can talk about all the important issues facing our country."

Speaker Mike Johnson, who has canceled legislative business in the House this week to increase pressure on Senate Democrats, on Monday repeated his claim that Democrats are responsible for ending the shutdown. "I want to bring the House back into session and get back to work. But we can't do it 'til they turn the lights back on," he told reporters Monday. "We need [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer to reopen the government and as soon as he does that, we'll bring everybody back here."

Johnson added that he is ready to discuss bipartisan bills to fund the government in the 2026 fiscal year - but only after the current shutdown ends. Johnson said he has spoken to Sen. Patty Murray, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, about the issue.

"I told her, it is my full intention that if we break this impasse and we put these bills together - we have three of them in conference committee right now - whatever the conference committee comes up with, I will put on the floor," Johnson said. "I'm ready to go."

Murray replied to his comments on social media, saying "the only path forward" is for Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to hold talks with Democratic leaders. "Premium hikes are going out THIS MONTH," she added, referring to one of the main issues driving Democrats in the shutdown, the expiration of enhanced subsidies for millions of people who get their health insurance through the federal exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. "We need a deal that reopens the government & stops premiums from doubling."

Schumer told CNN that he has not spoken to Thune since last week and denied that Democrats are in negotiations with Trump over healthcare. "Republicans need to sit down, roll up their sleeves and negotiate with us so that we can preserve health care, fight for health care for the American people," he said. "Plain and simple, they got to sit down and talk to us."

In the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries challenged his counterpart to a live televised debate about the shutdown. "The country needs immediate, bipartisan negotiations between the White House and congressional leadership in order to reach an enlightened spending agreement that reopens the government," Jeffries said in a letter to Johnson. "Given the urgency of the moment and the Republican refusal to negotiate a bipartisan agreement, a debate on the House Floor will provide the American people with the transparency they deserve."

Saying Jeffries is making "desperate pleas for attention," Johnson rejected the challenge. "The House has done its job," Johnson said. "I'm not going to let Hakeem try to pretend for these theatrics. This is a Chuck Schumer decision. The ball is in the Senate's court now."

Upcoming pain points: Assuming the shutdown continues, many federal workers will miss their first paychecks this Friday, and that could conceivably change the dynamic in Washington as stories emerge about the difficulties they face. Another potentially important date is October 15, the day many people in the military could miss a paycheck.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise reportedly told his fellow Republicans on Saturday that they should use the possibility of a missed paycheck for servicemembers in their attacks against Democrats.

Republicans seem confident that Democrats will fold first as pressure builds to reopen the government, with Trump saying this weekend that Republicans are "winning" the standoff, but recent polling might give them pause. A new CBS News/YouGov poll finds that a plurality of 39% think Trump and congressional Republicans are responsible for the shutdown, compared to 30% who blame Democrats and 31% who blame both equally. The results are consistent with polls from The New York Times, The Washington Post and NPR that show more people blaming Republicans than Democrats. Respondents in the CBS poll also gave Trump poor marks for his handling of the shutdown, with 52% saying they disapprove.

At the same time, Americans aren't showing much support for the shutdown overall and reject both parties' positions on the matter, leaving both sides tarnished.

"I'm supposed to say this is killing the Democrats," a Trump adviser told CNN. "But I don't think it helps either side, to be honest with you."

Social Security Chief Named to Also Serve as IRS 'CEO'

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Monday that Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano will also serve in a newly created role as chief executive officer of the Internal Revenue Service. Bisignano will oversee all day-to-day operations at the tax agency and will report to Bessent, who will remain acting commissioner of the IRS.

"The move lets the administration install a Trump appointee at the IRS quickly without going through the Senate confirmation process," The Wall Street Journal's Brian Schwartz and Richard Rubin note. "Bisignano will help implement the administration's vision for the IRS, which emphasizes upgraded technology and retreats from the heavier enforcement initiatives started under President Joe Biden."

Bisignano may also help bring an added measure of stability to the beleaguered tax agency, which has seen seven people serve as commissioner since January. Before Bessent stepped into that role, Trump appointed former congressman Billy Long to the job, but abruptly removed him in early August, after less than two months.

A veteran financial executive, Bisignano was tapped to lead Social Security after serving as chairman and CEO of Fiserv, a financial services and payment technology company.

"Frank is a businessman with an exceptional track record of driving growth and efficiency in the private and now public sector," Bessent said in a statement that also noted that the IRS and Social Security Administration share many technological and customer service goals. "Under his leadership at the SSA, he has already made important and substantial progress," Bessent said, "and we are pleased that he will bring this expertise to the IRS as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy, and customer service in order to deliver better outcomes for hardworking Americans."

Some policy experts questioned the new appointment, expressing concern about the challenges involved in overseeing both the IRS and the Social Security Administration - and about the Trump administration's end run around Senate confirmation.

"If the Trump Admin asked for the Senate's advice & consent, would they really want the same person running the government's biggest program AND overseeing the implementation of the extraordinarily complex new tax law?" Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and Disability Policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, wrote in a social media post. "This unprecedented arrangement cries out for meaningful oversight to ensure that each agency adequately serves the public, conflicts of interest are resolved, and our most sensitive data are protected."

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