'We'll probably have a shutdown', warns Trump amid failed funding talks

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US government was likely headed for its first shutdown in over six years, as funding was set to expire at midnight and talks between Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked.

“We’ll probably have a shutdown,” AFP quoted Trump as telling reporters in the Oval Office just hours before the deadline for a deal.

“Nothing is inevitable but I would say it’s probably likely,” he added.

Trump issued his warning following a last-ditch White House meeting on Monday that failed to produce any breakthrough.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said afterward that “large differences” remained between the two sides.

Blaming Democrats for the impasse, Trump also threatened to use a potential shutdown to target progressive priorities and implement sweeping public sector job cuts.

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible that are bad for them… like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like,” Trump said.

Democrats, despite being in the minority in both chambers of Congress, have been attempting to assert rare influence over the federal budget process, eight months into Trump’s combative second term that has already seen major government agencies dismantled.

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In the 100-seat Senate, passing funding legislation requires 60 votes — a threshold Republicans fall seven votes short of.

With no compromise in sight, the Senate was expected to vote in the afternoon on a short-term funding bill already approved by the House, though prospects for its passage remained slim.

If no deal is reached, a government shutdown would force nonessential operations to a standstill, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and potentially disrupting key social welfare programmes.

US government shutdowns are deeply unpopular, and Democrats and Republicans alike try to avoid the scenario - while blaming the other camp in the event of a closure.

Republicans have proposed to extend current funding until late November, pending negotiations on a longer-term spending plan.

Democrats want to see hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare spending for low-income households restored, which the Trump administration is likely to eliminate.

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The House has already passed a seven-week stop-gap funding measure, and Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has sought to force Senate Democrats’ hands by not bringing his chamber back to Washington this week.

But many Democrats have shown up and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries assembled dozens of his members in front of the US Capitol to berate Republicans for being “on vacation” as the shutdown looms.

“We’re not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of the American people - not now, not ever,” he added.

The gridlocked Congress regularly runs into deadlines to agree on spending plans.

In March of this year, with the threat of another shutdown looming, Republicans refused to engage in dialogue with Democrats over massive budget cuts and the layoffs of thousands of federal employees.

Senate Democrats reluctantly provided the votes to end the stand-off but the decision angered the party base.

The longest shutdown in history - and the latest - came during Trump’s first term, when government functions were halted for 35 days beginning December 2018.

With inputs from agencies