Trump Warns of 'Irreversible' Moves if There Is a Shutdown

The government is set to shut down at 12:01 am Wednesday unless Democrats and Republicans can reach agreement—something that appeared increasingly unlikely Tuesday as both sides traded recriminations. The Senate is due to vote on a stopgap spending bill that would extend funding for seven weeks. It will need 60 votes but Democrats and GOP Sen. Rand Paul are expected to vote against it, leading to the first shutdown in almost seven years, the AP reports.

• President Trump warned Tuesday that his administration could take "irreversible" actions, including mass layoffs and program cuts, during a shutdown, the Hill reports. "We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them," he said. "Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like."

• The main issue in the standoff is health care spending, CNBC reports. Democrats are seeking a reversal of Trump's Medicaid cuts and an extension of the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, which are due to expire at the end of the year.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Republicans "are not going to be held hostage" by the demands. "We're happy to sit down and talk about these and other issues that they're interested in," he said Tuesday, per the Washington Post. "But it should not have anything to do with whether or not, for a seven-week period, we keep the federal government open."
• The New York Times reports that the deadlock was "growing uglier by the hour" Tuesday, with Democrats angered by a deepfake video Trump posted on Truth Social after a Monday meeting with Democratic congressional leaders at the White House. It depicted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a sombrero and mustache, standing silently as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered remarks like, "Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore."
• "The next time you have something to say about me, don't cop out to a racist and fake AI video," Jeffries said Tuesday morning. "When I'm back in the Oval Office, say it to my face." On the Senate floor, Schumer accused Trump of trolling "like a 10-year-old," the AP reports. In a post on X, Schumer shared a video of Trump saying in 2011 that a shutdown would be a "tremendously negative mark on the president." Schumer wrote: "No AI necessary."