(MENAFN) U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson placed the blame on congressional Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown during remarks made Tuesday, claiming they were putting political motives ahead of the interests of American citizens.

"Welcome to Day 14 of the Democrat government shutdown," Johnson stated to the press gathered on Capitol Hill.

He went on to say, "It's two weeks, two weeks of Democrats in Congress inflicting untold pain on the American people for nothing other than pure politics, as we've explained at this podium every day of the shutdown."

The shutdown has brought a halt to all non-essential federal services, forced thousands of government employees into furlough, and caused interruptions in critical programs across numerous federal agencies.

Later on Tuesday, the Senate is expected to vote for the eighth time on a temporary funding proposal introduced by Republicans.

This stopgap measure aims to restore government operations. However, as it requires 60 votes to move forward, Senate Republicans must secure additional support from Democratic lawmakers to see it passed.

With no resolution apparent, Johnson called on Senate Democrats to act promptly.
"Today, Senate Democrats will have their eighth chance to end this mess by passing our clean, non-partisan continuing resolution, the government funding bill that would end all of this immediately," he urged.

Both political parties continue to exchange blame for the lack of advancement in reopening the government.

Meanwhile, White House budget director Russell Vought announced on Friday that layoffs of federal employees "have begun".

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