Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is calling out Republican leaders for using the latest government shutdown as an "excuse" to pursue "very inhumane" policies against the American people.

The federal government officially shut down on Wednesday (October 1) after lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement before Tuesday's (September 30) deadline.

Senate Democrats rejected a Republican-backed short-term funding bill that would've kept the government running through November 21. Democrats demanded that the bill reverse Medicaid cuts passed in Trump's summer spending package and extend tax credits for Affordable Care Act marketplace insurance plans. GOP leaders refused to budge, saying they wanted a "clean" funding bill with no policy changes.

On Wednesday, Crockett appeared on MSNBC's The Weeknight, where she called out Republicans for blaming the shutdown on Democrats, who are advocating to protect healthcare coverage and its costs for millions of people.

Crockett suggested that Republicans are seeking to help billionaires over "the very people that make this government."

"The Republican response to us allegedly holding the government hostage is to go out and hurt the very people that are serving our country and serving our constituents. This tells you who it is they are fighting for," Crockett said. "They didn't say they were going to hurt the billionaires. They said they were going to hurt the very people that make this government go."

"This is just another excuse for them to do the very inhumane things they want to do," she added.

With negotiations between Democrats and Republicans at a standstill, the Office of Management and Budget instructed federal agencies Tuesday night to begin “orderly shutdown activities.” According to the Congressional Budget Office, roughly 750,000 federal workers could be furloughed daily, costing about $400 million per day in lost compensation. Essential personnel, such as air traffic controllers, military members, FBI agents, and TSA workers, will continue working without pay until funding resumes.

On Wednesday, White House budget director Russ Vought announced that the administration had frozen $18 billion in federal infrastructure funding for New York, home to top Democrats Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer. Vought also revealed an additional $8 billion freeze on clean energy programs across 16 blue states, while Republican-led states were left untouched.

In a private call with GOP lawmakers, Vought added that federal layoffs would begin within two days. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed that permanent layoffs were on the table.

Still, Democrats are demanding that any funding bill include the ACA subsidies extension.

“Vought thinks that he’s going to bully Democrats into submission by canceling all of these projects,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Wednesday. “If we’re smart, it’ll be evidence of why we have to fight even harder to stop the lawlessness, to protect our families.”

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