Rep. Michael Lawler, R-N.Y., left, confronts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in a heated discussion to endorse House bill H.R.5145 that would extend the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tours at the Capitol have come to a standstill. The House is keeping its doors closed, while the Senate repeated its loop Wednesday of failed votes to reopen the government. President Donald Trump is threatening to mass fire federal workers and refuse back pay for the rest.

As the government shutdown entered a second week, there’s no discernible endgame in sight.

“Congress, do your damn job,” said Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, with other top union leaders near the Capitol.

No negotiations, at least publicly, are underway, but behind the scenes quiet talks are emerging. Clusters of lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, are meeting privately, searching for ways out of the impasse, which hinges on striking a deal for preserving health care subsidies.

Signs of discomfort are apparent: Military personnel and federal employees are set to miss paychecks, flights are being delayed at airports nationwide and federal programs are disrupted. Confrontations erupted at the Capitol.

Two dueling bills, one from Republicans and the other from Democrats, failed again in the Senate.

The Republicans who have majority control in Congress believe they have the upper hand politically, as they fend off Democratic demands to quickly fund health insurance subsidies as part of any plan to end the shutdown.

House Speaker Mike Johnson appears so confident he is preparing to take live questions from callers on C-SPAN’s Thursday morning public affairs show.

But so have Democrats dug in, convinced that Americans are on their side in the fight to prevent the looming health care price spikes and blaming Trump for the shutdown.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer insisted it was Republicans who are “feeling the heat.”

Tensions rose Wednesday to a boil.

Outside the speaker’s office, Arizona’s two Democratic senators who were demanding that Johnson re-open the House to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva. She won a special election to the state’s Tucson-area seat last month and has said she would sign on to releasing the files on the sex trafficking investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, but has yet to be seated in Congress.

Johnson, facing a diminished GOP majority once the new Democrat takes office, declined.

A short time later House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York was confronted by home state GOP Rep. Mike Lawler. He was demanding the leader’s support for a one-year extension of the expiring health care subsidies, as Democrats pushed for a better deal. The encounter quickly digressed.

“You shut the government down,” Lawler railed.

“You’re embarrassing yourself,” Jeffries retorted.

At its core, the debate is over the health care issue that has tangled Congress for years, and in particular, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, that Trump tried, and failed, to repeal and replace during his first term at the White House.

Congress increased the federal subsidies that help people purchase private insurance policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal aid was popular, and it boosted ACA enrollment to a record 24 million people. Those enhanced subsidies are set to expire at year’s end.

Republicans say Congress can deal with the health insurance issue in the months ahead. Democrats are fighting to resolve the problem now, as people are receiving notices of higher policy rates for the new year.

Two prominent Republicans, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, have broken from their party, saying something must be done to help Americans pay for the coming health insurance rate hikes.

While federal employees have often missed paychecks during shutdowns, Trump is now threatening to do away with guaranteed back pay, which would be a stark departure from what is normal. The White House budget office, under Russ Vought, argues the law says back pay is not automatic, and Congress would need to approve it.