WATCH: ‘The only way forward’ is for GOP to negotiate with Democrats and address health care costs, Jeffries says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Entering the third week of the government shutdown, Democrats say they are not intimidated or intimidated by President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire thousands of federal employees or his threats of more firings in the future.

Watch the House Democratic leadership news conference in the video player above.

Instead, Democrats appear to have become more emboldened, showing no signs of yielding as they returned to Washington from their home states on Tuesday evening and, for the eighth time, rejected a Republican bill to open up the government.

Read more: How do Trump and Budget Chief Foot make this government shutdown unlike any other?

“What people are saying is, ‘You have to stop the slaughter,’” Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said, describing what he heard from his constituents, including federal workers, as he traveled around his state over the weekend. “And you can’t stop it by giving up.”

Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz said the dismissals are “a fair bit of a threat” and predicted they would eventually be overturned in court or otherwise overturned. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, speaking for Republicans, said the shutdown is just “an excuse for them to do what they were planning to do anyway.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Wednesday that the layoffs are a “misguided attempt” to sway Democratic votes.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York added: “Their intimidation tactics are not working.” “And it will continue to fail.”

Democratic senators say they are increasingly hearing from voters about health insurance subsidies expiring at the end of the year, an issue the party has made central to the shutdown fight.

Watch live: The Senate is in session as the Trump administration threatens more firings due to the federal shutdown

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said the impact on millions of people of expiring health insurance subsidies, along with cuts to Medicaid passed by Republicans earlier this year, “far outweighs” any of the federal employee layoffs the administration is threatening.

Republicans are also confident in their strategy of not negotiating health care subsidies until Democrats give them the votes to reopen the government. The Senate intends to vote again on Wednesday and Thursday on the Republican bill, and so far there are no indications of any movement from either side.

“We are headed toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, said earlier this week.

Moderate Democrats are not budging

In the early hours of the shutdown, which began at 12:01 a.m. EST on October 1, it was unclear how long Democrats would hold out.

A group of moderate Democrats who voted against the GOP bill immediately began informal private talks with Republicans. GOP lawmakers had hoped enough Democrats would quickly switch their votes to end the filibuster and pass the spending bill with the 60 votes needed.

He watches: How the latest round of federal layoffs could affect public health

But bipartisan talks on ending health care subsidies have continued without a decision yet. Two weeks later, moderates, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Gary Peters of Michigan, still voted no.

“Nothing about a government shutdown requires this or gives them new authority to conduct mass layoffs,” Peters said after White House budget director Russell Vought announced the firings had begun on Friday.

D.C.-area lawmakers see benefits from the shutdown

Another major group of Democrats digging into the issue are lawmakers like Kaine who represent millions of federal workers in Virginia and Maryland. The shutdown was preceded by “nine months of punitive behavior” as the Republican president made cuts to federal agencies “and everyone knew who was to blame,” Kaine said.

“Donald Trump is at war with his workforce, and we don’t reward CEOs who hate their employees,” Keane said.

Read more: Video of Kristi Noem blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Some airports refuse to play it because it is too political

Democratic lawmakers from Maryland and Virginia, during a press conference on Tuesday alongside supportive federal workers, called on Republicans to come to the negotiating table.

“The message we have today is very simple,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. “Donald Trump and Ross Vought stop attacking federal employees, stop attacking the American people and start negotiating to reopen the federal government and address the looming health care crisis.”

Thousands are losing their jobs, with more to come

In a lawsuit on Friday, the White House Office of Management and Budget said more than 4,000 federal employees from eight departments and agencies would be laid off in conjunction with the shutdown.

Trump said Tuesday that his administration is using the shutdown to target federal programs that Democrats love and “will never come back, in many cases.”

Read more: Judge temporarily blocks Trump’s firing of federal employees during shutdown

“We are closing down Democratic platforms that we disagree with and they will never be opened again,” he said.

But on Capitol Hill, the threats fell on Democrats as they continued to demand talks on health care.

“I don’t feel any of this as pressure points,” Jeffries said. “I view it as the reality that the American people are facing and the question becomes, at what point will Republicans accept the fact that they have created a health care crisis that needs to be decisively addressed?”

Read more: Social Security’s cost of living announcement was delayed, another side effect of the shutdown

Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed that Republicans will not negotiate until Democrats reopen the government.

Thune has repeatedly said that layoffs are “an entirely avoidable situation.”

AP congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.