(MENAFN- Live Mint) The US government shut down on Wednesday after no funding deal was reached between Trump and Democrats. Vice-President JD Vance said Republicans don't want to“lay anybody off” during this scenario while emphasising that Democrats would be blamed for any negative effects resulting from the closure.

“There's necessarily going to be some pain because Senate Democrats refuse to reopen the government. We hope that they'll change their minds in the days to come," he said, according to CBS News.

Vance mentioned,“What we do want to do is make sure that as many of the essential services of government remain functional as possible."

As per a report by Bloomberg, President Donald Trump warned of large-scale dismissals of federal employees. Trump stated,“We may do a lot and that's only because of the Democrats” when asked about the potential number of federal workers who could be let go during a shutdown. Last week, the White House instructed agencies to prepare plans for extensive firings in the event of a government closure.

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Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries characterised the standoff as a dispute centred over health-care access, focusing on the looming increase in insurance premiums for millions of Americans if lawmakers fail to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.

The Bloomberg report noted that Republicans need only eight Democratic votes to break the deadlock and pass a clean spending bill.

In the final vote on Tuesday before the shutdown began, three members defected, namely Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted in favour, along with Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats.

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Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against it. Republicans expressed optimism that they could soon win over enough Democrats to vote in favour of reopening the government.

Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican informed CNBC on Wednesday, "We've got some great Democrat colleagues that we're talking to quietly they don't like what's going on. We saw three Democrats break ranks. If we get five more we'll end the shutdown.”

The shutdown is expected to last at least several more days. The House is not meeting this week, and Senate leaders indicated their plan to send members home later Wednesday in observance of the Yom Kippur holiday, with plans to return Friday and continue working through the weekend if the shutdown continues.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

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