🙏 Thank you to everyone who filled the room last night at Rhode Map Live for a discussion on the future of local media. We have another exciting even coming in December.

The federal government shut down for the first time in nearly seven years at midnight, and Congress is preparing for what could be a prolonged disruption as Republicans and Democrats aren’t showing signs that they’re willing to budge.

As my colleagues Tal Kopan and Jim Puzzanghera report, each side is predictably blaming the other, with Democrats holding out for negotiations over Affordable Care Act subsidies. Republicans earlier had rejected a counterproposal that would have extended the expiring subsidies and rolled back Republican cuts to Medicaid and other programs.

My colleague Sam Brodey explains why health care is front and center right now.

We’ve seen in the past that the length of a shutdown can determine how much the average American’s life will be disrupted, but we do know that hundreds of thousands of nonessential federal employees will be furloughed (they’re eligible for backpay when the shutdown ends).

Here’s a helpful guide to what you should know about shutdowns. 

In Rhode Island, it’s no surprise that the four Democrats that make up our congressional delegation are noting that Donald Trump is president and Republicans have majorities in the Senate and the House.

Here’s what they’re saying.

US Senator Jack Reed
“Regardless of whether the Trump administration shuts down the government and causes millions to lose or pay more for health care, my office will continue working to assist Rhode Islanders, save our health care system, and deliver for our state. And I will do everything I can to hold President Trump accountable.”

US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
“Democrats will use every bit of leverage we have to swiftly end both the Republican-created health care cost crisis and the widespread misery of this Trump shutdown. For the good of the country, Republican leaders need to start engaging in basic bipartisanship to protect the legislative branch’s power of the purse – a constitutional check on a runaway executive.”

US Representative Seth Magaziner
“Rhode Islanders are facing a health care crisis, with costs set to increase dramatically due to Republican funding cuts. It is unacceptable that with the government about to shut down and the health care system in crisis, House Republicans left Washington and are on vacation.”

US Representative Gabe Amo
“Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans had a choice: protect the ability of 22 million Americans and 40,000 Rhode Islanders to pay for their health care or shut down the government and put millions of federal workers and essential services in jeopardy. Just like they have done at every turn over the last nine months, Trump and Congressional Republicans — who control the White House, Senate, and the House — chose to stand against the American people.”