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Russian (RU) Washington — Vice President JD Vance on Sunday accused Democrats of "hostage-taking" with their posture in the government shutdown, as Democratic leaders in Congress have pushed for serious negotiations with Republican leaders and the White House to end the stalemate.
"We don't negotiate with a person who has taken the entire federal government hostage over a health care policy dispute," Vance said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
Twelve days into the government shutdown, Democrats and Republicans continued to trade blame over the impasse, without a clear resolution in sight. As Senate Republican leadership has held repeat votes on a House-passed measure to fund the government, looking to peel off support from across the aisle, Democrats have demanded an extension of expiring health insurance tax credits as a condition for their support to reopen the government. And as Democrats call for negotiations in the funding fight, Republican leaders say there's nothing to negotiate.
When asked Sunday about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's insistence that the stalemate would only be solved by negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House, Vance said "this isn't a deal-making, this isn't a negotiation, this is hostage-taking."
"If Chuck Schumer wants to come into the Oval Office or come to my house, he is welcome to talk about how to fix health care policy for Americans," Vance said. "But you don't come into the Oval Office and say, 'unless you the President of the United States give us everything that I want, I'm going to shut down the government.'"
Vance added, "we'll negotiate over health care policy, but only once you do your job and open up people's government."
On the question of the health insurance tax credits, Vance said "we think the tax credits actually go to a lot of waste and fraud within the insurance industry, so we want to make sure that the tax credits go to the people who need them."
"There's a lot of willingness to negotiate, a lot of willingness to compromise from both the moderate Democrats and certainly from the White House," Vance said. "But if the far-left Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer, are going to shut down the government and refuse to open up the government unless they get everything they want, that's not a negotiation, that's a hostage taking. And we're not going to reward that kind of behavior from Washington, DC."
Meanwhile on Friday, the White House announced that layoffs previewed earlier in the shutdown had begun, and the administration said in a court filing that seven agencies began issuing reduction-in-force notices to more than 4,000 workers.
Vance said the government is focused on "ensuring essential services remain open" when asked how the administration is deciding who gets laid off. And he urged that "this is not a situation that we're excited about," saying "we want the government to reopen, but Chuck Schumer and the Democrats decided to shut down the government, and we have to deal with the consequences in the administration, so that's what we're doing."
Pressed about the layoffs, some of which were rescinded, Vance said "the government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos."
"We are figuring out how to take money from some areas and give it to other areas," Vance said. "That chaos is because Schumer and the far-left Democrats shut down the government."
On whether the layoffs can hold up to legal scrutiny after two unions sued to block the mass layoffs during the shutdown, Vance said, "we think that we have the authority to do what we need to do."
"All these conversations about whether it's a temporary layoff or a permanent layoff, we are dealing with a terrible, chaotic situation because Chuck Schumer and a few far left Democrats decided to shut down the government," Vance said. "If they just join with the moderate Democrats and the vast majority of Republicans, we can open up the government, and all these conversations will no longer be necessary."
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