People walk near the U.S. Capitol Building during the fifth day of a partial government shutdown in Washington, D.C., U.S. [Photo Credit: Reuters]

The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day, with President Donald Trump’s Republicans and congressional Democrats still at an impasse and the White House threatening to ramp up pressure by ordering mass layoffs of federal workers.

The Republican-led Senate was slated to vote again on dueling measures to fund federal agencies, including a Republican stopgap bill approved by the House of Representatives that would fund operations through November 21, and a Democratic alternative. Neither was expected to receive the 60 votes needed to advance.

Asked on Sunday night when the government would begin laying off federal workers, Trump said: “It’s taking place right now.” He blamed Democrats for the impasse but did not elaborate on the layoff plans. The White House has said thousands could be fired if the shutdown persists.

Trump’s budget director, Russell Vought, has already frozen at least $28 billion in infrastructure funds for New York, California and Illinois — all home to sizable Democratic populations and critics of the president.

Trump and his Republican allies have also taunted Democrats on social media with deepfake videos drawing on Mexican stereotypes with images that Vice President JD Vance described as a joke.

But Democratic leaders showed no sign of knuckling under to the White House’s hardball tactics, which have caused unease among some centrist Republicans who fear the approach could make the impasse harder to overcome.

The partial shutdown, the 15th since 1981, was tied for the fourth-longest in U.S. history on Monday, matching the six-day length of a 1995 shutdown that began after then-President Bill Clinton vetoed a Republican spending bill. The longest shutdown lasted 35 days in 2018-2019, during Trump’s first term in office.

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