And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “The Repblican shutdown has just begun because Republicans wouldn’t protect America’s health care,” he said. Veterans lose health care and suicide prevention programs. Almost all Senate Democrats voted against a House-passed, seven-week stop-gap funding measure hours ahead of the midnight deadline. The federal government has shuttered 21 times since 1976, when Congress enacted the modern-day budget process.