A senior White House official reportedly said Democrats “will pay a huge price” for the government shutdown expected to come next week, telling Politico that Republicans have no plans to negotiate with Democrats to pass their version of a stopgap spending measure.
“We’re going to extract maximum pain,” the official anonymously told the outlet, adding that Democrats “will pay a huge price for this.”
“Historically, it’s the aggressor that always loses,” they continued. “And quite simply, their constituencies and their priorities are all going to get chewed up, and ours, not so much.”
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, September 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
With Congress out of town this week, legislators will be faced with a dilemma when they return on Monday — if they do not approve a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government, a shutdown will begin on Wednesday, October 1.
House Republicans were joined by a singular Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden (ME), in passing a bill last Friday that would have kept the government funded until November 20, but Senate Democrats blocked it from advancing and proposed their own funding bill demanding an additional $1.4 trillion for far-left projects including free health care for illegal aliens and funding for NPR and PBS, Breitbart News reported.
Republicans blocked the Democrats’ counteroffer from advancing in the Senate, leaving Congress to either come to an agreement by midnight on Tuesday, or accept a government shutdown.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will not meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who had requested talks ahead of the funding deadline, writing that no meeting with the Democrat leaders “could possibly be productive” after reading their “unserious and ridiculous demands.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, left, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, both of New York, tell reporters that they are united as the September 30 funding deadline approaches, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, September 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“He read all the shit they’re asking for, and he said, ‘on second thought, go fuck yourself,’” the White House official told Politico of Trump’s opinion on the Democrats’ counteroffer.
The White House and congressional Republicans are aligned on not giving in to Democrats, with the official claiming the GOP is “strapped in for a fight. They’re gonna make them vote five-plus times.”
“We’re bracing for impact,” the White House official added.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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