By WILL WEISSERT and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats spent the first day of the federal government shutdown blaming each other for the dysfunction, as iconic sites representing the nation’s core identity — from the Liberty Bell in Pennsylvania to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii — were temporarily closed.

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The Trump administration enlisted Vice President JD Vance for an appearance in the White House briefing room to argue, falsely, that Democrats refused to keep the government funded because they were trying to extend health coverage to people in the country illegally.

Top Democrats countered that they simply want to renew funding for health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act so that insurance premiums won’t spike nationwide for American families.

Neither side said it would budge, but, as the finger-pointing persisted, the economic pain became more likely to spread — potentially putting hundreds of thousands of jobs and basic services at risk.

‘We are going to have to lay people off’

Callers to the White House comment line heard a recorded message from press secretary Karoline Leavitt stating: “Democrats in Congress have shut down the federal government because they care more about funding health care for illegal immigrants than they care about serving you, the American people.” Several federal agencies posted overtly partisan messages on their websites blaming Democrats for the shutdown.

The White House underscored its argument by reviving a deepfake video posted by President Donald Trump of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a fake mustache and sombrero, a meme that Jeffries described as bigoted. They played it on repeat in the White House briefing room, though Vance promised that the “sombrero memes will stop” when the government reopens.

Jeffries responded with a meme of his own superimposing an image of Vance with a fat head and curly, long hair. “JD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme. Not happening Bro,” Jeffries wrote in a post on X.

Vance said he couldn’t predict how long the shutdown might go on, but also said he didn’t believe it would be lengthy because some moderate Senate Democrats might soon vote with GOP colleagues to restore funding.

“Let’s be honest, if this thing drags on for another few days or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said that Trump has refused to negotiate in good faith and that the claims of Democrats closing the government for immigrants in the country illegally is a lie.

“Donald Trump says it loud and clear: He is using the American people as pawns, threatening pain on the country as blackmail,” Schumer said.

Roughly 750,000 federal workers were expected to be furloughed, with some potentially fired. Many offices were being shuttered, perhaps permanently, as the Republican president vows to “do things that are irreversible” to punish Democrats.

The White House’s key policy priorities, including an aggressive deportation agenda, may continue with few disruptions. But education, environmental and other services may eventually sputter. The economic fallout could further imperil an already weakening job market, as a jobs report Wednesday by payroll processor ADP showed that private employers cut 32,000 jobs last month.

The Trump administration has also begun targeting funding projects in Democratic states.

White House budget director Russ Vought announced Wednesday a hold on roughly $18 billion in payments to build the Hudson Rail Tunnel and the Second Avenue subway line in New York City, two projects dear to Schumer. He later announced that almost $8 billion in green energy projects would be withheld for 16 states, all states represented by two Democrats in the Senate.

Mixed polling

The last government shutdown came in late 2018 and early 2019, during Trump’s first administration. It centered on a fight between both parties over funding for a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border and lasted more than 30 days. But Congress had already passed separate funding measures then that ensured that shutdown only partially affected government services, and wasn’t as widespread as this one might be.

Trump took most of the blame for the last shutdown, with an AP-NORC poll conducted during it, showing about 7 in 10 Americans said Donald Trump had “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility.

This time, about two-thirds of registered voters in a recent New York Times/Siena poll conducted before the shutdown said the Democrats should not allow the government to halt even if their demands were not met.

Still, Republicans as the party in power could also face blowback. About one-quarter of registered voters in that poll said they would blame Trump and the Republicans in Congress if a shutdown happened, while about 2 in 10 said they would place blame on congressional Democrats. About one-third said they’d blame both sides equally.

Shutdown starts taking hold

Federal courts will remain fully operational at least through Oct. 17, and potentially life-saving forecasting by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Weather Service haven’t been disrupted.

But tours of the Liberty Bell were scrapped, and St. Louis’ Gateway Arch and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston closed. Pearl Harbor National Memorial in Hawaii began Wednesday shuttered, though officials were working with nonprofit partners to get it reopen.

At Acadia National Park in Maine, which gets 4 million visits a year, would-be hikers in search of trail maps checked empty receptacles outside the closed visitors center. With no park rangers in sight, Jim Feather of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and his wife were unsure about trying to tackle Cadillac Mountain, with its panoramic views of the North Atlantic coast.

“It’s frustrating that they’re playing politics in D.C.,” Feather said. “Their job is to pass a budget. And if they’re not doing their job, what are they doing down there?”

Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Darlene Superville in Washington, Jennifer Kelleher in Honolulu, Alexa St. John in Detroit and Robert F. Bukaty at Acadia National Park contributed to this report.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN

The U.S. government is taking a minority stake in Lithium Americas, a company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines in northern Nevada.

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The Department of Energy will take a 5% equity stake in the miner, which is based in Vancouver. It will also take a 5% stake in the Thacker Pass lithium mining project, a joint venture with General Motors.

Thacker Pass is considered crucial in reducing U.S. reliance on China for lithium, a critical material used to produce the high tech batteries used in cell phones, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Both Republicans and Democrats support the project and narrowing the production gap. China is the world’s largest lithium processor.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement that the deal with Lithium Americas “helps reduce our dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals by strengthening domestic supply chains and ensures better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars.”

Thacker Pass is expected to produce 40,000 metric tons of battery-quality lithium carbonate per year in its first phase, enough to help power 800,000 EVs.

The equity stake in Lithium Americas is the latest example of the direct intervention by the Trump administration with private companies. The government is getting a 10% stake in Intel through the conversion of billions in previously granted government funds and pledges. The administration spent $400 million of taxpayer money in July on MP Materials stock to make the U.S government the biggest owner in the Las Vegas rare earths miner. Trump also made a deal with Nvidia and AMD to give the U.S. government a 15% cut of revenue from selling certain chips to China.

Lithium Americas said Wednesday that it reached a non-binding agreement in principle with the DOE to advance the first draw of $435 million on the federal loan. The DOE has agreed to defer $182 million of debt service over the first five years of the loan.

The White House and Canada’s Lithium Americas seemed to be moving forward with the deal late last month, as both parties agreed on changes to an approximately $2.3 billion federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries. GM has pledged more than $900 million to help develop Thacker Pass, which holds enough lithium to build 1 million electric vehicles annually.

Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush, called Thacker Pass is a “massive opportunity” for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on China and other foreign adversaries for lithium.

“Despite having some of the largest deposits, the U.S. produced less than 1% of the global lithium supply but this deal helps reduce dependence on foreign adversaries for critical minerals strengthening domestic supply chains and ensuring better stewardship of American taxpayer dollars with lithium production set to grow exponentially over the coming years,” he wrote.

Shares of Lithium Americas spiked more than 30% Wednesday.

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON and LISA MASCARO

WASHINGTON (AP) — A week after her decisive win in an Arizona special election, Adelita Grijalva arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where her father had served for decades.

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But as she roamed the familiar halls, she said she could not help but feel like a tourist. With the House out of session, her swearing in has been delayed. That left her without an office, a desk, staff — something of an unofficial new member of Congress.

“It’s very frustrating,” she told The Associated Press after from a late evening meeting of House Democrats. She said it’s unfair to the residents she will be serving in the Arizona’s seventh district, with “no one voting for them, no constituent services, no support.”

The delay plays out as Republicans pursue President Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress, where they hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate, leading to intense partisan battles — including the government shutdown.

Grijalva’s presence, once she is sworn in, would narrow the margins and give Democrats, in the minority, more power as they confront Trump and the GOP agenda.

House Speaker Mike Johnson says it’s “standard practice” to swear in new members once the House is in session, and Grijalva is expected to be sworn in when the chamber resumes business next week. But two Republican congressmen who were elected earlier this year in special elections were sworn in a day after winning their seats, and when the House was not in session.

“I don’t know why the rules are different for me,” Grijalva said.

Democrats accuse Johnson of delaying Grijalva’s swearing-in because it improves their chances of forcing a vote for the release of the Justice Department files on the sex trafficking investigation into the late Jeffrey Epstein. Grijalva has pledged to back that effort and would be the last signatory needed for a petition to force that vote, joining Democrats and some Republicans.

“The Republicans are blocking her from her position because they want to protect pedophiles. It’s a disgrace,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from the same state, said in a post on X.

Earlier this week, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts sent a letter to Johnson, criticizing his cancelation of previously scheduled votes Tuesday and Wednesday, saying the decision jeopardized negotiations to avoid a government shutdown and delayed the swearing-in of Grijalva.

Clark charged that “common practice” for special elections in which results are not in doubt is for the swearing-in to take place “at the earliest opportunity.”

“Any delay in swearing in Representative-elect Grijalva unnecessarily deprives her constituents of representation and calls into question if the motive behind the delay is to further avoid the release of the Epstein files,” Clark wrote in the letter.

The speaker’s office sent the AP a statement saying Johnson intends to schedule the swearing-in next week.

“As is standard practice, with the House now having received the appropriate paperwork from the state, the Speaker’s Office intends to schedule a swearing in for the Representative-elect when the House returns to session,” a spokesperson said.

Both chambers of Congress were out of session last week and part of this week in observance of the Jewish holy days.

Arizona Democratic candidate Adelita Grijalva speaks to supporters after being declared the winner against Republican Daniel Butierez to fill the Congressional District 7 seat held by the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva in a special election Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Grijalva was elected to replace her father, the late U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a progressive Democrat who represented the state for more than two decades in Congress before his death in March.

The newcomer won the seat in southern Arizona last week with more than double the votes of her Republican opponent, making her the first Latina to represent Arizona in Congress.

The congressional office closed the day after the election, she said, and there are no services being offered at the moment for constituents of the district, which hugs almost the entire length of Arizona’s border with Mexico.

Grijalva was in the Capitol this week, and the chamber did open briefly as some Democrats gathered to push their demands to save health care funds as part of a deal to keep the government funded.

“There’s no justification to further delay the representative-elect from being sworn in as a member of the House,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters Wednesday, saying he expects it to happen next Tuesday.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who has pushed for the release of the Epstein files, had said he was looking forward to Grijalva’s arrival.

“I encourage Speaker Johnson to follow applicable laws and House precedent to ensure Rep.-elect Grijalva is sworn in at her earliest eligibility,” Massie said in a statement provided to the AP. _______ Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Matt Brown contributed to this report from Washington.

New details and allegations emerged Wednesday in the case of a 22-year-old Forest Lake man who White Bear Lake Area High School officials say enrolled as a student using a fake identity.

White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager said they continue to investigate what high school principal Russell Reetz told families Tuesday was a man who “appears to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll.”

Investigators are pursuing possible criminal violations related to fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interaction with minors, Hager said.

Court records show that in March the man was convicted of gross-misdemeanor indecent exposure in Washington County for sending a 15-year-old girl a nude picture of himself through Snapchat in July 2023. He was sentenced to a year of probation.

The man was arrested by Plymouth police on Sunday on warrants from past theft convictions in Anoka County and for allegedly violating conditions of his probation in July in the Washington County case. He was booked into the Anoka County jail and remained there until Wednesday, when he was transferred to the Washington County jail.

The Pioneer Press generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

‘Absolutely nuts’

State Rep. Elliott Engen, R-Lino Lakes, whose district includes communities served by the White Bear Lake school district, said the man posed as a 17-year-old student, even making this year’s football team. Engen provided the Pioneer Press a copy of the team’s roster that lists the man as KJ Perry, a 5-foot-10-inch, 165-pound senior cornerback.

“This whole thing is absolutely nuts,” Engen said.

Engen said he heard about the man Tuesday morning after his brother, who is a senior at White Bear Lake Area High School, called to tell him that “there’s been a 22-year-old man posing as a student. He said, ‘And a bunch of my friends knew of him as KJ. I’ve seen him pass by in the halls.’ ”

Engen said he did a “deep dive” on the man and found his real name and background. He said he’s also heard “from a slew of parents and students that are reaching out and saying that this is so ridiculous.”

Engen noted families were told that staff members, families and students “saw something and decided to report it.”

Engen said he puts the blame on White Bear Lake Area Schools Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak. On Tuesday, he sent Kazmierczak a letter calling for his immediate resignation.

“This failure represents a catastrophic lapse in basic enrollment verification protocols, student safety measures and administrative oversight, which are core responsibilities that fall squarely under your leadership as superintendent,” Engen’s letter reads.

Engen alleged in the letter than the man, while posing as a student, exposed students to unnecessary danger, “undermining the trust families put in our education system.”

Engen said Wednesday that “what I’ve gathered, from several sources, was that the man’s motive “was to continue having tight-knit circles with girls.”

Kazmierczak and school district spokeswoman Marisa Vette did not respond to a request to comment on Engen’s letter.

Principal Reetz told families Tuesday that “we have determined that while enrolling this individual we followed our enrollment process, which is as rigorous as state law allows.”

He added, “We take all concerns seriously, and appropriate steps are taken any time there is a potential threat to student safety.”

Ryan Bartlett, the high school’s football coach, did not respond to a request for comment.

Former Forest Lake, Centennial student

Engen gave the Pioneer Press a previous season’s football roster for Forest Lake Area High School that lists the man’s real name.

Forest Lake school district spokeswoman Renae Reedy confirmed to the Pioneer Press that the man was a student at Forest Lake Area High School from January 2022 to early January 2023 and that he played football “for some of the 2022 season.”

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Centennial School District confirmed to the Pioneer Press that the man had attended Centennial Area Learning Center from early September 2023 to mid-December of that year. He then participated until late May 2024 in the district’s online program designed for students who need to make up credit toward their diploma. “He did not graduate from the Centennial School District and did not play football for Centennial High School,” the spokeswoman said in an email.

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Engen said a mother of a student approached him outside White Bear Lake Area High School about the man. She was in tears, Engen said, and told him that last week she hosted a party for her daughter and her friends after the Homecoming football game. The man showed up unannounced and uninvited, causing the woman’s son to tell him they did not want him to be there.

“Her son said, ‘Leave. You’re creepy.’ So the guy had to leave,” Engen said. “So it was a well-known thing amongst these kids what this guy was up to.”

Mary Divine contributed to this report.