Vice President Says Democrats Forcing Shutdown Fight Over 'Healthcare for Illegal Aliens'

Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said Democrats were prepared to shut down the federal government over demands to fund "healthcare for illegal aliens," escalating partisan rhetoric ahead of a looming deadline to avoid a shutdown.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller echoed Vance's message by replying: "defunding soldiers to demand free healthcare for illegals."

Congress has until Tuesday night to reach a funding agreement, but negotiations remain stalled. Democrats are insisting that any stopgap spending bill include protections for Affordable Care Act tax credits that help lower the cost of insurance purchased through Obamacare marketplaces, as NBC News points out. Without those subsidies, premiums could rise by an average of 75% for millions of Americans, according to the nonpartisan health policy group KFF.

Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in both chambers and the White House, have pressed for a "clean" stopgap bill without additional policy measures. House Speaker Mike Johnson said discussions on the ACA credits should be deferred. "That's a December policy debate and decision, not a September funding matter," Johnson said last week.

President Donald Trump on Thursday also placed blame squarely on Democrats. "This is all caused by the Democrats, they asked us to do something unreasonable," he told reporters in the Oval Office, as Politico reports, adding: "This is what [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer wants, this is what the Democrats want." Earlier this week, Trump canceled a planned meeting with Democratic leaders, calling their demands "unserious and ridiculous."

At the same time, the Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agencies to prepare for a potential shutdown by drafting reduction-in-force plans. Those plans would go beyond typical furloughs, potentially eliminating jobs in programs not aligned with administration priorities.

Schumer dismissed the move as "an attempt at intimidation," writing on X that Trump "has been firing federal workers since day one—not to govern, but to scare."