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‘Will pay troops, for now’: JD Vance as pressure to end shutdown mounts
Vice President JD Vance said he believes US military members will be paid at the end of the week, though he did not specify how the Trump administration will reconfigure funding as pain from the second-longest shutdown spreads nationwide.
The funding fight in Washington gained new urgency this week as millions of Americans face the prospect of losing food assistance, more federal workers miss their first full paycheck and recurring delays at airports snarl travel plans.
“We do think that we can continue paying the troops, at least for now,” JD Vance told reporters after lunch with Senate Republicans at the Capitol. “We've got food stamp benefits that are set to run out in a week. We're trying to keep as much open as possible. We just need the Democrats to actually help us out.”
The vice president reaffirmed Republicans' strategy of trying to pick off a handful of Senate Democrats to vote for stopgap funding to reopen the government. But nearly a month into the shutdown, it hasn't worked. Just before Vance's visit, a Senate vote on legislation to reopen the government failed for the 13th time.
The strain is building on Democratic lawmakers to end the impasse. That was magnified by the nation's largest federal employee union, which on Monday called on Congress to immediately pass a funding bill and ensure workers receive full pay. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the two political parties have made their point.
"It's time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship," said Kelley, whose union carries considerable political weight with Democratic lawmakers.
Still, Democratic senators, including those representing states with many federal workers, did not appear ready to back down. Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said he was insisting on commitments from the White House to prevent the administration from mass firing more workers. Democrats also want Congress to extend subsidies for health plans under the Affordable Care Act.
“We've got to get a deal with Donald Trump,” Kaine said.
But shutdowns grow more painful the longer they go. Soon, with closures lasting a fourth full week as of Tuesday, millions of Americans are likely to experience the difficulties firsthand.
“This week, more than any other week, the consequences become impossible to ignore," said Rep. Lisa McClain, chair of the House Republican Conference.
Also read: US judge bars Donald Trump from firing federal workers as shutdown drags on
The nation's 1.3 million active duty service members were at risk of missing a paycheck on Friday. Earlier this month, the Trump administration ensured they were paid by shifting $8 billion from military research and development funds to make payroll. Vance did not say Tuesday how the Department of Defense will cover troop pay this time.
Larger still, the Trump administration says funding will run out Friday for the food assistance programme that is relied upon by 42 million Americans to supplement their grocery bills. The administration has rejected the use of more than USD 5 billion in contingency funds to keep benefits flowing into November. And it says states won't be reimbursed if they temporarily cover the cost of benefits next month.
A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Massachusetts that aims to keep SNAP benefits flowing by compelling the Agriculture Department to use the SNAP contingency funds.
Vance said that reconfiguring funds for various programmes such as SNAP was like “trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with the budget.”
Also read: Charlie Kirk's words on govt shutdown resurface as USDA says no food aid in November: ‘President Trump is winning…'
The Agriculture Department says the contingency fund is intended to help respond to emergencies such as natural disasters. Democrats say the decision concerning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, goes against the department's previous guidance concerning its operations during a shutdown.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the administration made an intentional choice not to the fund SNAP in November, calling it an "act of cruelty.”
Another programme endangered by the shutdown is Head Start, with more than 130 preschool programmes not getting federal grants on Saturday if the shutdown continues, according to the National Head Start Association. All told, more than 65,000 seats at Head Start programmes across the country could be affected.
A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday indefinitely barred the Trump administration from firing federal employees during the government shutdown, saying that labor unions were likely to prevail on their claims that the cuts were arbitrary and politically motivated.
US District Judge Susan Illston granted a preliminary injunction that bars the firings while a lawsuit challenging them plays out. She had previously issued a temporary restraining order against the job cuts that was set to expire Wednesday.
Federal agencies are enjoined from issuing layoff notices or acting on notices issued since the government shut down October 1. Illston said that her order does not apply to notices sent before the shutdown.
At the Capitol, congressional leaders mostly highlighted the challenges many Americans are facing as a result of the shutdown. But there was no movement toward negotiations as they attempted to lay blame on the other side of the political aisle.
“Now government workers and every other American affected by this shutdown have become nothing more than pawns in the Democrats' political games," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
The House passed a short-term continuing resolution on September 19 to keep federal agencies funded. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has kept the House out of legislative session ever since, saying the solution is for Democrats to simply accept that bill.
Source: Hindustan Times
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