The US is hurtling towards a government shutdown on Tuesday night, and there appears to be little appetite on either side of the partisan divide to avoid it.A last-ditch meeting between President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders in Congress made little progress. If anything, both sides have been digging deeper into their positions.”I think we’re headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing,” Vice President JD Vance told reporters after the meeting at the White House. “You don’t put a gun to the American people’s head and say, ‘Unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we’re going to shut down your government’.”Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said there were still “very large differences” between his party and the White House.No one sounded optimistic.These positions hardened further on Monday night after Trump posted an AI video mocking the Democratic leadership. It depicted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries dressed in a sombrero and a fake moustache, and Schumer saying in an artificial voice that undocumented migrants should get free healthcare. Both men responded angrily, with Jeffries calling it bigotry.In terms of the substantive demands from each side, Republicans want a short-term extension of current spending levels – essentially kicking the legislative can a bit farther down the road. They’re happy with the way things are going, particularly since the Trump administration has been implementing spending cuts on its own, without the help of congressional budget-setters.Democrats want that practice to end. What’s the point, they wonder, with negotiating spending-level agreements if Trump will just ignore them? They also want a firm agreement to renew the government health-insurance subsidies for low-income individuals that expire at the end o …
