USDA says SNAP benefits won't be issued on Nov. 1

Republican senators spoke at the White House calling on Democrats to avert a shutdown but when pressed by ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce, they made clear that there aren't active negotiations to get any closer to a deal.

"We are three weeks into this shutdown, and the two sides don't appear to even be talking. Do you owe it to the American people to at least be negotiating?" Bruce asked Senate Republican leaders after their lunch with President Trump.

"Well, I think we are. We have negotiated. I don't know what there is to negotiate. This is about opening up the government. We have offered them several off ramps," Thune said.

Thune said the Democrats' proposal is not something that would be signed by the president.

"What you do have is a bill that's passed the House, sitting at the desk in the Senate that the president's prepared to sign to open up the government," Thune added, referring to the Republicans' stopgap measure. "So I'm not sure people keep saying, you know, negotiate, negotiate what? I don't know what that is right now the government needs to open up, and then we're happy to sit down and talk about any other issues that Democrats want to talk about."

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart and Allison Pecorin

As the impacts of the government shutdown continue to get worse by the day, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told ABC News the responsibility is on Republicans to negotiate and not on Democrats to vote for a clean extension.

ABC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Jay O'Brien Schumer on SNAP food assistance, a lifeline for millions of Americans that several states are warning won’t be available as of Nov. 1.

"Are Democrats, at least in part, to blame for some of that pain because you are the ones holding out?" O'Brien asked the Senate's top Democrat.

"No," Schumer said. "We have a very simple request, sit there and negotiate. The American people are aghast. Any observer, objective observer, is against that here on this serious problem, they won't even negotiate with us. The onus is on them to sit down. But that is why we have urged Hakeem and I have urged Trump to sit down with us and seriously negotiate."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, following Trump's lunch with Republican senators at the White House, said the president is "prepared to sit down" with Democrats to talk about healthcare (specifically Obamacare subsidies) but only once the government shutdown ends.

"Before that can happen, we've got to have five Democrats who have a little backbone and a willingness to take on their leadership and do the right thing for the country," Thune said.

Thune said Republicans were a "united team" and "at some point, Democrats are going to have to take yes for an answer."

"We’re hopeful that this will be the week when we break out of this and Democrats come to their senses and decide to open up the government,” Thune said. "We're going to give them several opportunities, as you know, to do that. We'll have another vote on the continuing resolution tomorrow."

Speaking to Senate Republicans gathered at the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump delivered a message as the government shutdown officially enters its third week.

"I want to just say from the beginning, our message has been very simple. We will not be extorted on this crazy plot of theirs. They've never done this before. Nobody has. You always vote for an extension. Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats need to vote for the clean bipartisan CR and reopen our government," Trump said, prompting applause from the GOP lawmakers in attendance.

"They are the obstructionists," Trump said.