1 of 2 | People walk by the U.S. Capitol in June in Washington, D.C. On Monday, the U.S. government shutdown entered its third week as White House officials say it may reopen possibly this week. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo
White House officials speculated Monday the 20-day federal shutdown could end this week with over 700,000 U.S. government workers currently furloughed.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, predicted the government shutdown was “likely to end sometime this week” as it entered its third week. Hassett added the administration could impose “stronger measures” if Democrats don’t come to the negotiating table.
“Now there’s a shot that this week, things will come together, and very quickly,” Hassett said.
A House-approved continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through Nov. 21 did not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act tax credits — set to expire at the end of the year — that could impact up to 22 million Americans.
Senate Democrats have demanded a measure to extend the subsidies be added to the stopgap funding legislation. The Senate is expected to hold its next vote Monday afternoon.
Three senators who caucus as Democrats have voted with Republicans to reopen: Sen. Angus King, I-Maine; Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, D-Nev.; and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.
On Thursday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., voted with Republicans to advance an $852 billion defense funding bill, indicating she might become the fourth to join Republicans on the stopgap funding bill.
Fetterman, who is facing backlash among Pennsylvania Democrats for his willingness to side with Trump and Republicans on select issues, has reiterated his commitment to extending the ACA tax credits but says “the government must reopen.”
“Food insecurity is real for many Pennsylvania families. It’s one of many reasons why I could never vote for shutting our government down,” the freshman Fetterman posted Sunday on Bluesky.
“The moderate Democrats will move forward and get us an open government, at which point we could negotiate whatever policies they want to negotiate with regular order,” Hassett said in an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Monday will be the first vote after the weekend’s “No Kings” protests across the United States in opposition to Trump. Hassett accused Senate Democrats of saying it would have been “bad optics” to reopen the federal government prior to the demonstrations.
Hassett said the president has been “very active throughout this process, but it’s also his position that this is a thing that the Senate needs to work out.”
But he stated “stronger” punitive actions could be pending.
“I think that the White House is going to have to look very closely, along with [Trump’s budget chief Russell] Vought, at stronger measures that we could take to bring them to the table,” Hassett said.
Meanwhile, around 1,400 federal workers overseeing the nation’s nuclear stockpile will be furloughed Monday as the shutdown in the Republican-controlled federal government lingers on.
