Lack of trust making it harder to end shutdown

Lawmakers are unable to gain traction as a broken relationship hinders progress.

- BY STEPHEN GROVES, MARY CLARE JALONICK AND MATT BROWN

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-N.Y.), left, confronts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

(JOHN MCDONNELL Associated Press)

A president looking to seize power beyond the executive branch. A Congress controlled by Republican lawmakers unwilling to directly defy him. And a minority party looking for any way to fight back.

The dynamic left Washington in a stalemate Thursday — the ninth day of the government shutdown — and lawmakers openly venting their frustration as they tried to gain traction without the trust that is typically the foundation of any bipartisan deal.

"To have good-faith conversations, you have to have trust. There’s a real challenge of trust," said Rep. Brad Schneider, chair of the New Democratic Coalition, a pragmatic group of House Democrats.

Groups of lawmakers huddled over dinners, on phone calls, and in private meetings have tried to brainstorm ways out of the standoff that has shuttered government offices, kept hundreds of thousands of federal employees at home and threatened to leave them without a scheduled payday. But lawmakers have found themselves running up against the reality that the relationship between the two parties is badly broken.

The frustration was evident this week as House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, on separate occasions, engaged in tense exchanges in the Capitol hallways with members of the opposing party.

"We're in an environment where we need more than a handshake," said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who has engaged in talks with Republicans.

President Trump and Republicans have so far held to the stance that they will negotiate on Democratic demands around healthcare benefits only after they vote to reopen the government. They also say Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is beholden to the left wing of his party and staging the shutdown fight only to stave off a primary challenge.