On Thursday, California Senator Alex Padilla warned of health insurance premium increases unless a deal is reached.
Padilla is ringing the alarm about the looming government shutdown -- specifically the 1.7 million California residents who will lose their health care if a deal between Democrats and Republicans isn't reached before Oct. 1.
Padilla spoke at Altamed in the Westlake District on Thursday, joined by patients who could lose their coverage.
SEE ALSO: The government could shut down in less than a week. Here's what you need to know
Republicans say other policy priorities like health care should be debated as part of the annual appropriations process, not as part of a short-term funding solution. But, Democrats want to use the funding deadline as leverage to secure health care-related wins and to restore cuts to Medicaid made by the One Big Beautiful Bill that Republicans passed in July.
If there is a government shutdown, millions of federal employees will go without a paycheck. Workers such as airport security officers, air traffic controllers and members of the military will be told to come to work anyway.
ICE agents would also go without pay, and National Parks will close. And now, the White House budget office has instructed federal agencies to prepare for mass firings, using the shutdown as a way to reduce the government workforce instead of just furloughing employees.
"I'm not going to give up fighting, but I think that the crystal ball is kind of clear. You have a president of the United States who doesn't want to meet with Democratic leaders. You have a speaker of the House of Representatives who sent the House of Representatives home until Oct. 1. They're not going to reconvene until after the government shuts down, if it gets to that point. They're not even pretending to try to negotiate," Padilla said. "Call your member of Congress. More specifically, call a Republican member of Congress and tell them to get back to work -- work with Democrats. Let's solve this health care cost spike."
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said that this is all caused by the Democrats, and that they've asked Republicans to do something unreasonable.
Democrats say the White House has been unwilling to negotiate a path forward to fund the government. Programs that would continue under a shutdown include social security, military operations, ICE, veterans' benefits and Medicare.
Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell asked Padilla about whether he's planning on jumping into the race for California governor. He said that he loves California and that California is his home and that there's a lot of work to do here, but right now, he's focused on averting a government shutdown. He also brought up the importance of Prop 50 -- California's redistricting effort -- which is very much on his mind.