By City News Service

San Diego County congressional Democrats Tuesday warned of the potential repercussions for county residents in the event of a looming federal government shutdown.

In a joint news conference, Rep. Scott Peters, Rep. Sara Jacobs and Rep. Mike Levin, said the likely shutdown would result in skyrocketing health care costs for thousands of county residents and would force local military personnel to work without pay.

Peters' office said in a statement that in San Diego County, around 117,000 active-duty and reserve servicemembers, as well as 34,000 people who have military affiliated and Veterans Affairs civilian jobs would go without pay.

The first shutdown in nearly seven years was expected to begin just after midnight unless a funding agreement can be reached, but Republicans and Democrats remained at an impasse, with both sides pointing fingers over who is to blame.

A White House news release Tuesday claimed Democrats were seeking taxpayer funds for undocumented migrants and were threatening a shutdown "if their demands are not met."

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's website bore a message on its front page Tuesday that stated, "The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people."

Democrats have said they are seeking an extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act to keep health care premiums down and have roundly denied the Trump administration's claims that they are pushing for a shutdown.

"Let's be clear: Republicans control the House. Republicans control the Senate. Trump is in the White House," Levin said. "If the government shuts down, it is because they wanted it to shut down. Because they refused to negotiate. This is on them."

Jacobs said health insurance premiums would more than double for millions of people if the shutdown were to occur, and during Tuesday's news conference said, "Donald Trump and Republicans decided that it was more important to raise your health care costs than to keep the government open."

Peters said in a statement that he was seeking to avoid a "costly government shutdown" and that "President Trump is in the White House and Republicans control the House and Senate -- if there is a shutdown, it falls squarely on their shoulders because they chose to shut it down rather than pass a budget that serves the American people."