WASHINGTON - The agency responsible for safeguarding the US nuclear stockpile began placing most staff on enforced leave on Monday, an official said, as yet another congressional vote to end the crippling government shutdown failed.
With the standoff about to enter its fourth week, some 1,400 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration were due to receive notices telling them they had been placed on unpaid furlough.
"Due to the Democrat shutdown, approximately 1,400 NNSA federal employees will be furloughed as of today, October 20th and nearly 400 NNSA federal employees will continue to work to support the protection of property and the safety of human life," a Department of Energy spokesperson said in a statement.
The United States has an arsenal of 5,177 nuclear warheads, with about 1,770 deployed, according to the global security nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The NNSA, which oversees 60,000 contractors, is responsible for designing, manufacturing, servicing and securing the weapons.
The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but CNN reported that the furloughs will initially hit sites that assemble nuclear weapons, such as Pantex in Texas and Y-12 in Tennessee.
At 20 days, the United States is enduring its longest full government shutdown ever -- the third-longest if partial stoppages are included.
President Donald Trump has been ratcheting up pressure on Democrats to vote with his Republicans to reopen the government, with increasingly ominous threats to slash public services and ramp up mass layoffs.
"So we're hoping the Democrats become much less deranged and that we will get the vote pretty soon. And I hear they're starting to feel that way, too," Trump said at the White House.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNBC he expected the shutdown to end "some time this week" -- but he warned Democrats of "stronger measures... to bring them to the table" if it dragged on further.
Democrats' key condition for backing a House-passed funding resolution that would reopen the government through late November is the renewal of expiring health care subsidies for 24 million Americans.