DAYTON — The U.S. government shutdown has reached its 36th day, making it the longest in the nation’s history, with no resolution in sight.
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More than a million federal employees are working without pay, and approximately 600,000 have been furloughed as the shutdown continues.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the shutdown has already cost the U.S. around $14 billion.
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News Center 7 spoke with Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10) while he was in Dayton to vote on Tuesday. He told News Center 7’s Xavier Hershovitz that the work to end the shutdown continues.
“The negotiations are ongoing,” Turner said.
The shutdown has caused delays at airports across the country and has shut down food assistance for millions of Americans, including people in the Miami Valley.
“They need to get back into the Senate chamber. They need to vote to open the government so that, you know, the functions of government, the important job of government, gets back to work,” Turner said.
Democrats say they are focused on healthcare and want Republicans to come to the table before reopening the government.
“Republicans refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which is going to result in tens of millions of Americans experiencing dramatically increased premiums, co-pays, and deductibles,” Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Leader of the U.S House of Representatives, said.
Turner said this week that there is some progress toward reaching a deal to reopen the government.
“There’s hope that, just as we end this week, that the Senate may, they’re sending signals, come to a deal and send a bill over to the House that hopefully can move this forward and end the logjam, and put everybody back to work,” Turner said.
Democratic leaders say they will “evaluate” any plan that comes out of the Senate if it addresses healthcare.
“We want to find a bipartisan path forward toward enacting a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people,” Jeffries said.
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