Federal government shutdown grinds into a second week, but quiet talks emerging

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : Congress increased the federal subsidies that help people purchase private insurance policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic.
58% : Over the weekend, Senate Democrats were briefed on information suggesting their health care messaging was resonating with voters.
57% : "I spoke to the president at length yesterday about that very thing," House Speaker Mike Johnson said about his Monday conversation with Trump.
50% : But so have Democrats dug in, convinced that Americans are on their side in the fight to prevent the looming health care price spikes and blaming Trump for the shutdown.
50% : While federal employees have often missed paychecks during shutdowns, and the first pay period is coming in the next week, Trump is now threatening to do away with guaranteed back pay.
48% : And Trump himself signaled he was open to negotiating with Democrats over their demands to save health care subsidies.
47% : The Republicans who have majority control in Congress believe they have the upper hand politically, as they fend off Democratic demands to quickly fund health insurance subsidies as part of any plan to end the shutdown.
39% : " At its core, the debate is over the health care issue that has tangled Congress for years, and in particular, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that Trump tried, and failed, to repeal and replace during his first term at the White House.
35% : But Democrats argue that Republicans failed to address the expiring health care subsidies this summer when they approved Trump's signature bill into law, commonly referred to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Democrats doubt that with Johnson keeping the House out of legislative session, and sending lawmakers home to work in their districts, the Republicans will quickly come back to work on resolving the health care problem.

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