WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic lawmakers at an impasse on reopening the federal government provided few public signs Sunday of meaningful negotiations taking place to end what is about to be a six-day shutdown — with President Donald Trump saying that layoffs are occurring.

Asked on Sunday night when federal workers would be fired as he has threatened to do, Trump told reporters: “It’s taking place right now and it’s all because of the Democrats.”

“The Democrats are causing the loss of a lot of jobs,” Trump added, declining to answer a question about which agencies are subject to the cuts.

The possibility of layoffs would escalate an already tense situation in which Washington lawmakers have struggled to find common ground and build mutual trust. Leaders in both parties are betting that public sentiment has swung their way, putting pressure on the other side to cave.

Democrats are insisting on renewing subsidies to cover health insurance costs for millions of households, while Trump wants to preserve existing spending levels as he believes that Democrats will have to cave because of the jobs and federal projects being put at risk.

The squabble comes at a moment of troubling economic uncertainty. While the U.S. economy has continued to grow this year, hiring has slowed and inflation remains elevated as Trump’s import taxes have created a series of disruptions for businesses and hurt confidence in his leadership. At the same time, there is a recognition that the nearly $2 trillion annual budget deficit is financially unsustainable.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, among those appearing on the Sunday news shows, said there have been no talks with Republican leaders since their White House meeting last Monday.

“And, unfortunately, since that point in time, Republicans, including Donald Trump, have gone radio silent,” Jeffries said. “And what we’ve seen is negotiation through deepfake videos, the House canceling votes, and of course President Trump spending yesterday on the golf course. That’s not responsible behavior.”

The Trump administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers, a tactic that has never been used before.

Even though it would be Trump’s choice to cut jobs, he believes he can put the blame on the Democrats because of the shutdown.

“It’s up to them,” Trump told reporters on Sunday morning before boarding the presidential helicopter to celebrate the Navy’s 250th anniversary in Norfolk, Virginia.

While Trump rose to fame on the TV show “The Apprentice” with its catchphrase of “You’re fired,” Republicans on Sunday claimed that the administration would take no pleasure in letting go of federal workers, even though the administration had also put funding on hold for infrastructure and energy projects in Democratic areas without clear signs of remorse.

“We haven’t seen the details yet about what’s happening” with layoffs, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday morning on NBC. “But it is a regrettable situation that the president does not want.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, also said the administration would prefer to avoid the layoffs.

“We want the Democrats to come forward and to make a deal that’s a clean, continuing resolution that gives us seven more weeks to talk about these things,” Hassett said on CNN. “But the bottom line is that with Republicans in control, the Republicans have a lot more power over the outcome than the Democrats.”

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California defended his party’s stance on the shutdown, saying on NBC that the possible increase in health care costs for “millions of Americans” would make insurance unaffordable in what he called a “crisis.”

But Schiff also noted that the Trump administration has stopped congressionally approved spending from being used. That essentially undermines the value of Democrats trying to seek compromises on the budget since the administration could block the spending of money from any deal. The Trump administration sent Congress roughly $4.9 billion in “ pocket rescissions ” on foreign aid, a process that meant the spending was withheld without time for Congress to weigh in before the previous fiscal year ended last month.

“We need both to address the health care crisis and we need some written assurance in the law — I won’t take a promise — that they’re not going to renege on any deal we make,” Schiff said.

The television appearances indicated that Democrats and Republicans are busy talking, deploying internet memes against each other that have raised concerns about whether it’s possible to negotiate in good faith.

Vice President JD Vance said a video putting Jeffries in a sombrero and thick mustache was simply a joke, even though it came across as mocking people of Mexican descent as Republicans insist that the Democratic demands would lead to health care spending on immigrants in the country illegally, a claim that Democrats dispute.

Immigrants in the U.S. illegally are not eligible for any federal health care programs, including insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. Still, hospitals do receive Medicaid reimbursements for emergency care that they are obligated to provide to people who meet other Medicaid eligibility requirements but do not have an eligible immigration status.

The challenge, however, is that the two parties do not appear to be having productive conversations with each other in private, even as Republicans insist they are in conversation with their Democratic colleagues.

On Friday, a Senate vote to advance a Republican bill that would reopen the government failed to notch the necessary 60 votes to end a filibuster. Johnson said the House would close for legislative business next week, a strategy that could obligate the Senate to work with the government funding bill that was passed by House Republicans.

“Johnson’s not serious about this,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on CBS. “He sent all his congressmen home last week and home this week. How are you going to negotiate?”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Sunday that the shutdown on discretionary spending, the furloughing of federal workers and requirements that other federal employees work without pay will go on so long as Democrats vote no.

“They’ll get another chance on Monday to vote again,” Thune said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“And I’m hoping that some of them have a change of heart,” he said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs faces sentencing Friday in a sordid criminal case that could keep him locked up for years.

The hip-hop mogul was convicted in July of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, in violation of the federal Mann Act.

A jury acquitted Combs, 55, of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him away for life.

Prosecutors say he should spend more than 11 years in prison for his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs’ lawyers want him freed now, saying the long sentence sought by prosecutors is “wildly out of proportion” to the crime.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who will decide the sentence, has signaled that Combs is unlikely to be freed soon. He twice rejected bail for the rapper, who has been jailed at a federal detention center in Brooklyn since his arrest a year ago.

The sentencing comes after a nearly two-month trial featuring testimony from women who described being beaten, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed by Combs.

A former girlfriend, R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, said Combs ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship.

The jury was repeatedly shown video clips of Combs dragging and beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one of those multiday sexual marathons, which she referred to as “freak-offs” during her four days of testimony.

A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” told jurors she too was subjected to violence and felt obligated to perform sexually with male sex workers at drug-fueled “hotel nights” while Combs watched and sometimes filmed.

To support their racketeering case, prosecutors also brought on witnesses who testified about other violent acts. A former personal assistant testified that Combs raped her. One of Cassie’s friends told the jury Combs dangled her from a 17th floor balcony. The rapper Kid Cudi testified that Combs broke into his home after learning he and Cassie were dating.

Although the jury acquitted Combs of racketeering, the judge can still consider that testimony as he decides the sentence.

Subramanian is also considering letters submitted by Combs and some of his accusers.

In his letter to the judge Thursday, Combs promised he would never commit another crime if released, saying, “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn.”

In her letter, Cassie called Combs a manipulative abuser who has “no interest in changing or becoming better.”

“He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is,” she wrote.

A former personal assistant who said Combs raped her in 2010 asked Subramanian to deliver a sentence “that takes into account the ongoing danger my abuser poses to me, and to others.” The former assistant, who testified under the pseudonym “Mia,” is expected to speak at Friday’s sentencing.

Combs will address the court, according to court filings. His defense team is also planning to play a roughly 11-minute video.

Combs’ lawyers say the sexual encounters were consensual and that being in jail has hastened Combs’ sobriety and forced him to learn from his misbehavior. They have said there is no need for him to remain behind bars because he has already been punished enough.

At a court hearing last week, Combs seemed buoyant, as he told his mother and children that he is “getting closer to going home.”