Hi from CNN, I'm Josh and Chana with the five things you need to know for Wednesday,

October 1st. The blame game for the government shutdown continues. This morning on Fox News,

Vice President J.D. Vance criticized what he called the far-left faction of the Democrats, claiming

they initiated the shutdown over their unmet demands.

He did seem, though, to offer an opening on the key issue of Affordable Care Act subsidies

if the government reopened.

I will go to the Capitol right now to talk to Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats about

premium support for the Affordable Care Act, but only after they've reopened the government.

You can't reward this exercise and hostage taking.

Meanwhile, the impact of the shutdown is being felt on Wall Street, with the Dow, the broader S&P 500, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ, all slipping this morning.

So staying on the shutdown, President Donald Trump said this in the Oval Office yesterday.

A lot of good can come down from shutdowns.

We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want, and they'd be Democrat things.

Last week, a White House Budget Office memo threatened more federal firings if the government shuts down,

with Trump potentially using the need to furlough workers to carry out more government layoffs.

And House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox Business this morning that the shutdown could be a,

quote, opportunity to downsize the scope and the scale of government.

But a group of unions representing federal workers has prepared for this by suing the administration.

In a suit filed in San Francisco, attorneys say the officials behind the memo have exceeded their authority,

and that it's illegal to fire workers in force during a shutdown.

In terms of the number of workers who could be furloughed,

the director of the Congressional Budget Office estimates the number could reach around

...