It's the Ryan Laira show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. So will there be a government

shutdown come next Wednesday, October 1st, and what should the fight be about? You probably know

the basic fact by now, unless Democrats and Republicans in Congress can agree to pass some

version of a spending bill, parts of the federal government will shut down. Top Democratic lawmakers

are making health care. Their red line for the shutdown negotiations. Democrats want to keep Obamacare

tax credits flowing. They say, without them, millions of Americans will see their premiums

jump dramatically. And Democrats want the recent cuts to Medicaid eligibility that were part of

President Trump's one big bill to be reversed without either, no deal.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffreys.

So opposition, as Democrats, is clear.

Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care.

Jeffreys, the Brooklyn Democrat on MSNBC. Interestingly, some commentators say the shutdown should really focus on other things,

demanding cuts to tariffs, or the resignation of RFK Jr., or democracy as a whole. But the Democrats

in charge are saying health care. On the other

side, the top Senate Republican, Majority Leader John Thune, who said he'd be willing to talk

health care subsidies down the road, also says a shutdown is the wrong way to go about this.

Here's what he said on CNN yesterday to Dana Bash. I think everybody is willing to sit down and

talk about how to make that happen in a context where it should be discussed, not as a hostage

to keep the government open. President Trump is echoing that sentiment, no negotiations,

at least not with him, if a shutdown threat

remains on the table. And in fact, raising the stakes, news broke yesterday in Politico about a White

House Budget Office memo telling federal agencies to prepare to mass fire employees

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