Vice President JD Vance accused Democrats of “taking hostages” with their stance on the government shutdown, as Democratic leaders in Congress push for serious negotiations with Republican leaders and the White House to end the stalemate.

Failure to reach an agreement, Vance warned of deeper cuts to the federal workforce the longer the US government shutdown continues, increasing uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of people already furloughed without pay amid the congressional stalemate.

However, the outlook is not so encouraging, as Vance himself warned: “We do not negotiate with a person who has taken the entire federal government hostage over a dispute over health care policy.”

In an interview with CBS News' “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” he said that at the insistence of the minority Senate leader Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the impasse would only be resolved through negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House, Vance said, “This is not a deal, this is not a negotiation, this is a hostage situation.”

“If Chuck Schumer wants to come to the Oval Office or my house, he's welcome to talk about how to make health care better for the American people,” Vance said. “But you don't come to the Oval Office and say, 'If you, the president of the United States, don't give us everything I want, I'm going to shut down the government.'”

Vance said the government is focused on “ensuring the continuity of essential services” when asked how the administration decides who to fire. He insisted that “this is not a situation we're excited about,” stating, “We want the government to reopen, but Chuck Schumer and the Democrats decided to shut it down, and we have to deal with the consequences in the administration, so that's what we're doing.” When pressed about the layoffs, some of which were rescinded, Vance said that “the government shutdown inevitably leads to some chaos.”

“We're looking at how to take money out of some areas and give it to others,” Vance said.“That chaos is because Schumer and the far-left Democrats shut down the government.”

As for whether the layoffs can withstand legal scrutiny after two unions sued to block mass layoffs during the shutdown, Vance said, “we believe we have the authority to do what we need to do.”

“To be clear, some of these cuts are going to be painful. This is not a situation we relish. It's not something we're looking forward to, but the Democrats have dealt us a pretty tough deck,” he also told Fox News.