WASHINGTON — While much of the government enters its fourth shutdown week Wednesday, what does keep going strong are the charges and countercharges from Republicans and Democrats.

California Republicans blame Democrats for being stubborn and hurting constituents. Democrats say it’s Republicans who are being obstinate and spreading pain.

As the shutdown began, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Chico, said on X that Democrats “pushed their own partisan plan that had nothing to do with keeping the government open.”

Democrats’ key demand is to extend enhanced health care subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of this year. “Speaker (Mike) Johnson must bring us back to D.C. and negotiate a deal that reopens the government and extends these vital subsidies to protect access to affordable health care,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Sacramento, on X..

The shutdown began Oct. 1 and so far, there’s no end in sight. Johnson, R-La., and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, host Capitol press conferences almost every weekday to denounce the other’s strategy and motives.

The House hasn’t met since Sept. 19, as Johnson refuses to schedule a voting session until the Senate passes a budget that would fund the government through Nov. 21. The House passed the measure last month on a largely party-line vote. The Senate needs 60 votes to approve the budget, but with most of the 47 senators who caucus with Democrats voting no, efforts to win passage have failed.

Here’s a look at who’s been saying what, and what’s accurate and what’s not, during the shutdown so far:

Bondi blames Padilla for lost pay

Attorney General Pam Bondi to Sen. Alex Padilla at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Oct. 7: Justice Department employees are “working without pay right now because you voted to shut down the government.”

Padilla has never endorsed a government shutdown. He has voted repeatedly in recent weeks against the Republican plan to keep the government running through Nov. 21, as have almost all Senate Democrats.

He has repeatedly joined his Democratic colleagues to vote for his party’s proposal to keep the government open through Oct. 31.

“The way out of a shutdown is for the president and Republican leaders to finally negotiate with Democrats in good faith to immediately reopen the government and protect Americans’ health care,” Padilla said.

Republicans say Gray ‘willing to stiff our troops’

Christian Martinez, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee: “Shutting down the government to score political points is disgraceful. The fact that Democrats like Adam Gray are willing to stiff our troops and law enforcement says everything you need to know about their priorities,” he said in an Oct. 14 statement to the media.

Gray, D-Merced, was one of 17 Democrats who voted for a Republican-authored defense policy bill last month.

The bill that would increase military pay by 3.8% next year. He said the bill will “improve quality of life for our service members and give all members of our military a pay raise.” The Senate passed its version last week and the two chambers will now iron out differences.

But also last month, he was one of two Democrats who did not cast a yes or no vote on the Republican budget plan. While the House approved the plan on a largely party line vote, Senate Democrats have been able to defeat it.

He said that day that “Government shutdowns are bad for the country. No responsible person wants the threat of shutdown to play such a prominent role in our process of funding the government.”

Martinez cited another vote to boost his assertion: Gray’s July vote against the Big Beautiful Bill, which all House Democrats opposed. The bill boosted Pentagon spending and allowed expiring income tax rates that Democrats see as favoring the wealthy to continue.

Gray at the time said the bill “harms our most vulnerable neighbors, including seniors, veterans, single parents and children, while bending over backwards to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.”

Speaker Johnson blasts Schiff, Padilla

Speaker Johnson, at an Oct. 10 news conference: “In California, home of the nation’s largest civilian workforce, more than a quarter of a million federal workers are now working without pay. Both the Democratic senators, Padilla and Schiff, have now voted seven times to block those paychecks.”

See above. Johnson is correct about the votes of Padilla and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on the Republican plan, but he fails to mention they’ve backed the Democratic proposal to keep the government running through Oct. 31.

As for Johnson’s numbers, the federal Office of Personnel management reported last year that California had 150,679 federal civilian employees, Bee state worker reporter William Melhado found. Johnson’s office cited as its source a White House fact sheet that said the state had about 250,000 “federal workers.”

Asked to reconcile the two numbers, Johnson’s office referred The Bee to the White House. The White House referred The Bee to the Office of Management and Budget, which has not responded.

Matsui warns millions will lose health coverage

Rep. Doris Matsui: As the shutdown began Oct. 1, she said, “The result (of the shutdown) will be higher costs, deeper uncertainty, and millions of families at risk of losing (health care) coverage.”

She’s right, though that’s not necessarily because of the shutdown. Republicans pushed through One Big Beautiful Bill in July, which made changes that will mean steep cuts in the Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal in California. However, its work requirements for most recipients don’t take effect until early 2027.

Premium increases do loom for the nearly 2 million Californians who use the Affordable Care Act marketplaces to buy their health insurance coverage.

They’ve been held down in recent years by the 2021 enhanced premium subsidies, which expire at the end of this year. Covered California, which manages the program in the state, estimates that without the credits premium prices will nearly double next year.

Democrats want to restore much of the Medicaid reduction and continue the subsidies as part of any agreement to end the shutdown. Republican leaders counter there’s plenty of time to consider the subsidies, and are largely opposed to reversing the Medicaid policies they just adopted three months ago.

Jeffries says House Republicans are vacationing

Minority Leader Jeffries, at an Oct. 15 news conference : “This is day 15 of the Trump Republican shutdown, and House Republicans remain on vacation.”

Most House Republicans have not been in Washington for a month. That’s meant no votes and no committee meetings.

Asked for evidence the Republicans are on vacation, Democrats did not respond.

Republicans say they’re at work. Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, provided a list of 10 events he’s attended in his district and offered more. Kiley, who has urged Johnson to bring back the House, returned to Washington to work last week.

Among the work Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, has highlighted are a round table meeting with local law enforcement officials and a Washington update in a talk to the Shingle Springs Cameron Park Chamber of Commerce Luncheon.

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