WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he would negotiate with Democrats over health care subsidies, a move that could open the door to resolving the government shutdown that has stretched into a second week.

“We are speaking with the Democrats, and some very good things could happen with respect to health care,” Trump told reporters Monday at the White House, without naming specific lawmakers. “I’m a Republican, but I want to see health care, much more so than the Democrats.”

The comments appeared to represent a shift for the White House and Republican leaders, who have insisted that Democrats need to vote to reopen the government before they will engage in negotiations over health insurance tax credits.

“Trump’s claim isn’t true — but if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. “If President Trump and Republicans are finally ready to sit down and get something done in healthcare for American families, Democrats will be there — ready to make it happen.”

Democrats say they will not support the bill unless it addresses Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025, as well as cuts to Medicaid implemented through Trump’s signature second-term spending law.

Trump suggested that there hasn’t yet been enough political pressure on either party to end the impasse, but signaled that there could soon be “a lot of good things” that will happen. At the same time, he said that “at some point it will” trigger layoffs of federal workers if the shutdown continues much longer.

Earlier Monday, when asked if the president had spoken to Democratic senators, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say whether such conversations took place, but noted he had spoken with Republican congressional leaders.

Trump has said that he would use the shutdown to fire thousands more federal workers, who are normally furloughed during government closures.

The Senate on Monday, for the fifth time, rejected a House-passed stopgap bill to keep the government open through Nov. 21, which doesn’t include the subsidies Democrats have demanded. The vote was 52-42, and Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the measure.

After that vote, Trump on social media blamed Democrats for the impasse and called for them to relent — while indicating he’d be open to talks after the government reopened.

“I am happy to work with the Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to re-open,” the president said in a Truth Social post. “In fact, they should open our Government tonight!”

‘Sharp measures’

Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to Trump, argued that it was time for Democrats to be “reasonable.”

Hassett told CNBC that the president and top advisers were closely watching the Senate. Ahead of the vote, he warned that if it were to fail — as it ultimately did — Trump’s team in the Oval Office would soon take “sharp measures.”

“If the Democrats refuse to keep the government open, then perhaps the efforts we’ve been making to make government more efficient will even accelerate,” Hassett said, in response to a question about firing federal workers.

But there were no signs of an imminent breakthrough.

On Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries challenged House Speaker Mike Johnson to a debate.

“Given the urgency of the moment and the Republican refusal to negotiate a bipartisan agreement, a debate on the House floor will provide the American people with the transparency they deserve,” Jeffries said in his letter to Johnson.

Johnson declined the invitation, dismissing it as “desperate pleas for attention” from House Democrats.

Talks to end the shutdown, which began Oct. 1, sputtered at the end of last week. While Republicans control both chambers of Congress, they need support from several Democrats to get the 60 votes needed for a spending bill to clear the Senate.

Democrats insist that their health-care policy demands be added to a stopgap spending bill, while Republicans want those issues to be debated after the government is reopened. One potential solution is for Republicans to promise a vote on health-care subsidies by the end of the year, but so far Republicans have been loathe to do so.

Staying out of town

House Republicans say they will remain out of Washington until the shutdown ends, leading Senate Democrats to complain a key negotiating partner is entirely absent. The House GOP leaders say they have nothing to do until the Senate passes the stopgap they already approved.

The shutdown has closed the government outside of essential services, left hundreds of thousands of Americans without pay and limited access to government services. Lawmakers may feel more heat as federal workers begin to miss pay on Oct. 10 and the military goes without a paycheck on Oct. 15.

So far, Senate Republicans have focused on getting five more Democrats to break with Schumer and vote for a no-strings stopgap bill keeping the government open through Nov. 21.

Republicans are taking a carrot-and-stick approach by offering soft promises of a discussion on Obamacare, or ACA, subsidies on the one hand, while threatening mass layoffs and project cancellations on the other. Specific targets of the pressure campaign include Michigan’s Gary Peters, New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan along with senators representing large numbers of federal workers like Virginia’s Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

Moderate rank-and-file Republicans are acting as a go-between to the moderate Democrats trying to convince them to re-open the government. Talks midweek led by senators who want to see some form of Obamacare subsidies extended, such as Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Susan Collins of Maine, fell apart Thursday evening but are likely to resume Monday.

One way that Republicans are trying to entice some Senate Democrats to agree to a stopgap is by offering to pair some of the regular full-year spending bills with it, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The negotiated bills would likely contain spending levels higher than sought by the Trump administration, allowing Democrats to claim some level of victory, the person said. So far, Democrats have not dropped their core health insurance demands but talks are continuing among moderates in both parties the person said.

Johnson told reporters Monday that he had privately committed to Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate spending panel, that the full House would vote on whatever full-year spending bills appropriators come up with.

Democrats say promises insufficient

Democrats say they will not accept a mere promise of talks before Dec. 31 on the Obamacare issue, looking for a more substantive concession. Republicans are unwilling to even promise a vote on the matter on the House and Senate floor, saying that the issue is too complex to weigh in on now.

In 2017, Republicans tried and failed to repeal the ACA, and they have not said exactly what changes to the system they would seek. Conservatives still hold out hope they can abolish the popular law and allow a return of high-deductible health plans with limited coverage, which they say will lower medical inflation.

Obamacare is not the only core demand Democrats are making. In recent days, they have stressed the issue of the administration’s refusal to spend money allocated by Congress. Democrats say key to any agreement are provisions that would prevent the White House budget office from canceling projects and shutting agencies funded by Congress.

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With assistance from Lauren Dezenski, Jamie Tarabay, Derek Wallbank and Steven T. Dennis.

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