Speaker Johnson says it's up to Democrats to 'stop the madness' on shutdown's sixth day

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers provided few public signs of meaningful negotiations to break an impasse on reopening the federal government as the shutdown entered its sixth day. House Speaker Mike Johnson said “there's nothing for us to negotiate,” while House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries declared the “time is now” to work out a deal on health care.

Johnson, R-La., told reporters on Monday that they could stop asking why he wasn't negotiating an end to the impasse and that it was up to a handful of Democrats to “stop the madness” and pass a stopgap spending bill that had earlier passed the House.

“We did the job to keep the government open, and now it's on the Senate Democrats," Johnson said.

The House is not expected to be in session this week, focusing attention on the Senate to take the lead on any deal in the Republican-led Congress. Yet even with House lawmakers away, the Republican and Democratic leaders have been holding almost daily briefings as they frame their arguments and seek to shift blame for the shutdown.

Democrats are insisting on renewing subsidies to cover health insurance costs for millions of households, passed during COVID, while President Donald Trump wants to preserve existing spending levels for now.

The Trump administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers.

The talk of layoffs has escalated an already tense situation in which Washington lawmakers have struggled to find common ground and build mutual trust. Leaders in both parties are betting that public sentiment has swung their way, putting pressure on the other side to cave.

But a deal appears a long way off. The two parties do not appear to be having productive conversations with each other in private, even as Republicans insist they are in conversation with their Democratic colleagues.

The Senate has voted multiple times on the same legislation to reopen the government, only to have it fail each time.

The last vote came on Friday, as a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to notch the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster in the 100-member chamber.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said Sunday that the shutdown on discretionary spending, the furloughing of federal workers, and requirements that other federal employees work without pay will continue so long as Democrats vote no.

“They’ll get another chance on Monday to vote again,” Thune said. “And I’m hoping that some of them have a change of heart.”