WATCH: ‘I don’t think it was good for Republicans,’ Trump says after Democrats win election

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government shutdown has entered its 36th day, breaking a record as the longest ever and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans through program cuts, flight delays and leaving federal employees across the country without paychecks.

Watch Trump’s remarks in the video player above.

President Donald Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to bail out expired health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats wonder whether the Republican president will keep his word, especially after the administration restricted SNAP food aid despite court orders to ensure money is available to prevent hunger.

Trump, whose first term in the White House set the previous record for a government shutdown, said that was a “huge negative factor” in the GOP’s election losses on Tuesday, and reiterated his demand for Republicans to end the Senate filibuster as a way to reopen the government — something senators have refused to do.

Read more: What is the filibuster and why does Trump want to get rid of it during the shutdown?

“We have to reopen the government soon,” Trump said during a breakfast meeting Wednesday with Republican senators at the White House.

Trump has pushed to end the Senate rule, which requires a 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation, as a way to suppress minority Democrats on the shutdown and pass a long list of other GOP priorities. Republicans now have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Democrats were able to block legislation that would fund the government, after voting against it more than a dozen times.

“It’s time for Republicans to do what they need to do, which is to end the filibuster,” Trump told senators.

This effort will likely not resonate with Republican senators, but it may motivate them to engage with Democrats.

Trump has remained largely on the sidelines throughout the shutdown, maintaining an aggressive schedule of travel and world events, including his private club, Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Instead, talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the stalemate.

There are high expectations that the impasse will break once the election results are fully counted in the off-year races that are widely viewed as a barometer of voter sentiment during Trump’s second term. Democrats swept the key contests, emboldening progressive senators who want to keep fighting for health care money. Moderate Democrats were more willing to compromise.

Top Democrats in Congress have demanded that Trump meet with Capitol Hill leaders to negotiate an end to the shutdown and address health care.

“The election results should send a much-needed bolt of relief to Donald Trump that he must come together with us to end this crisis,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Trump sets another lockdown record

Trump’s approach to the shutdown contrasts markedly with his first term, when the government was partially shut down for 35 days over his demands for money to build the US-Mexico border wall. At that time, he publicly met and negotiated with congressional leaders. Unable to secure the money, he relented in 2019.

This time, it’s not just Trump refusing to participate in the talks. Congressional leaders are facing a crisis, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, sent lawmakers home in September after they approved their funding bill, refusing to negotiate further.

Johnson told a new conference on Wednesday that he was a “sad teacher.” He denied the party’s electoral losses and said he looked forward to midterm elections in 2026 that would more closely mirror Trump’s term.

Meanwhile, food aid, child care funds and countless other government services are being seriously disrupted. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or expected to come to work without pay.

He watches: Federal workers are struggling without pay as the long shutdown begins to affect more Americans

Transport Minister Sean Duffy has predicted there could be chaos in the skies next week if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck. Labor unions are pressuring lawmakers to reopen the government.

“Can this end now?” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-D., said upon his return from breakfast at the White House. “Have the American people suffered enough?”

Thune also said there is no support in the Senate to change the filibuster. “That’s not happening,” he said.

Senators are looking for a potential deal

Central to any decision is a series of agreements that must be endorsed not only by the Senate, but also by the House of Representatives and the White House, something that is far from certain in Washington.

Senators from both parties, especially members of the powerful Appropriations Committee, are seeking to ensure that the normal government funding process in Congress can get back on track.

Among the goals is to ensure votes come in on a smaller package of bills where there is already broad bipartisan agreement to fund various aspects of government such as agricultural programs and military construction projects at bases.

“I certainly think the three-bill package is poised to do a lot of good things for the American people,” said Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt, who was in talks.

Health care costs are rising dramatically for millions

What’s more difficult is that a large number of senators also want to find a solution to the standoff over funding for Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.

With premium notices being sent out, millions of people are experiencing severe shock due to high prices. The loss of enhanced federal subsidies, which were provided during the COVID-19 pandemic and come in the form of tax credits, is expected to make many people unable to purchase health insurance.

Read more: Health care subsidies are at the heart of the lockdown fight. Here who loses if it expires

Republicans are reluctant to fund health care, also known as Obamacare, without changes, but negotiating a compromise with Democrats is expected to take time, if an agreement can be reached at all.

Thune promised Democrats would at least vote on their preferred health care proposal, by a specific date, as part of any deal to reopen the government. But that’s not enough for some senators, who see the health care impasse as part of their broader concerns about Trump’s direction of the country.

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown contributed to this report.