Shutdown Day 20: House leaders talk but won't say about what

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government shutdown moves into its 21st day Tuesday with new but cryptic signs of movement in talks between the two sides.

"Speaker Johnson and I had a conversation this weekend," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Monday to reporters at the Capitol. He then abruptly ended his press conference with that. "Thank you. Thank you everyone."

Jeffries had been saying as recently as late last week that he and Speaker Mike Johnson (D-La.,) were not having any formal negotiations, and that he and other Republican leaders had gone "radio silent."

Aides to both men did not add any more substance regarding their discussion. "Private convo," responded a Johnson spokesman.

Word of their weekend talk came as Johnson earlier Monday said he was planning to speak to President Donald Trump. Democrats, including Jeffries, have been saying Trump needs to get more involved in the negotiations between congressional Republicans and Democrats.

Trump is set to leave the U.S. later this month for a visit through Asia that could last five or six days.

Later Monday, the Senate again went through its now-routine exercise of another failed vote on a House-passed bill to start money flowing again to shuttered federal agencies.

The bill failed for an 11th time, with Democrats still not giving Republican enough added votes to advance the bill under Senate rules. Democrats kept to their demand for language to be attached that would also prevent Obamacare tax subsidies from expiring at the end of the year, which Republicans have refused to do.

There also was no sign that Johnson was intending to call the House back into session to vote this week, something the House has not done since Sept. 19. In fact, since July 4, the House has conducted just 20 days of business in 16 weeks.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is expected to bring up a separate bill later this week in his chamber, however, to address pay for federal civilian and military service members who have continued working during the funding lapse. Johnson said he might call House members back to vote on that if the Senate passed it, but doubted that would happen because it also would require support from Democrats in that chamber.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said there could be more travel disruptions, during an appearance Monday morning on "Fox and Friends." He said air traffic controllers’ next paychecks are due next Tuesday, "and in that paycheck there will be no dollars," if the shutdown continues.

Working without pay, he predicted, will lead to more controllers "looking for a way to get cash in their pockets" and feed their families. "I think what you might see is more disruptions in travel," he said, offering that he’s heard some controllers are "taking Uber jobs and Door Dash"