During a CNN town hall on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed House Republicans for their absence from Washington, D.C., as the government shutdown continues to drag on. “Republicans aren’t in town. How do you negotiate with people who refuse even to show up to do their job?” Sanders said. “I’ve never seen people who hate working so much in my life,” Ocasio-Cortez quipped. The government shutdown, which is now in its third week, has grown increasingly painful for federal workers, many of whom recently received a partial paycheck due to the lack of appropriations. Republicans have sought to pin the blame on Democrats, who are refusing to vote for a GOP funding bill that doesn’t extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which reduce the cost of insurance premiums for millions of people. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, however, argued that House Republicans weren’t even negotiating or in D.C. to hold talks that could bring an end to the impasse. “They refuse to even pick up the phone and talk about this,” Ocasio-Cortez said, of both House leaders and the White House. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has effectively closed the lower chamber as part of an effort to put pressure on Democrats to concede in the standoff. He’s also cited this self-imposed closure as the reason he hasn’t yet sworn in Adelita Grijalva, a newly elected Democrat in Arizona who could be a pivotal vote for a measure related to releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. Johnson argues that House Republicans have already fulfilled their role by approving a funding bill and subsequently skipping town. Ocasio-Cortez, meanwhile, stressed that Republicans are neglecting their role by failing to engage in talks that could end the shutdown. “It is actually an unconscionable abdication and refusal to work,” she said. Spokespeople for Johnson and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Close