The federal government shut down. South Florida lawmakers play the partisan blame game

Even before the federal government shut down Wednesday, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in South Florida were engaging in partisan finger pointing on who's to blame for the legislative standoff.

“President [Donald] Trump could have stopped this shutdown, but he chose not to,” said U.S. Rep Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, in a statement hours before Congress failed to reach an agreement to keep funding the federal government. "It's a Trump shutdown."

“Make no mistake: this is a Schumer-led shutdown,” U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, said in a statement earlier this week. "The Democrats are in total disarray, obsessed with President Trump instead of governing. Shutdowns are devastating for our troops, veterans, and national security.”

The latest from Washington shows little signs the impasse can be resolved anytime soon between Democrats and Republicans. The House, Senate and White House are controlled by Republicans.

A vote to end the government shutdown hours after it began failed Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to extend.

The tally showed cracks in the Democrats’ resolve, but the outcome also left no breakthrough. Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown. The White House and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep programs and services open, throwing the country into a new cycle of uncertainty.

At issue are tax credits that have made health insurance through the Affordable Care Act more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. The credits are set to expire at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t extend them — which would more than double what subsidized enrollees currently pay for health insurance premiums, according to a KFF analysis.

It's an especially critical issue in Florida, including South Florida. The state, which has almost 5 million Affordable Care Act enrollees, has the highest ACA participation in the country. And one of every five Florida enrollees is from Miami-Dade.

Here is what South Florida lawmakers are saying on X, formerly Twitter, about the federal government shutdown.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R−Fort Pierce

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D−Miramar

U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R−Miami

U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R−Miami

U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D−West Palm Beach

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Parkland