"We will not fund states that allow anarchy," she told reporters.
The federal government remains closed amid a bitter impasse on Capitol Hill over competing congressional spending bills.
President Donald Trump and Republicans have cast blame for the shutdown on Democrats' health care demands, while Democrats insist Republicans need to negotiate.
The Trump administration has threatened mass layoffs of some federal workers during the shutdown.
The Democratic funding bill that included health care provisions failed by a vote of 47-53. It needed 60 votes to pass. All Democrats voted for it and all Republicans voted against it.
The Senate is taking up the seven-week clean House-passed funding bill that Republicans support, which also needs 60 votes to pass and is also expected to fail.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Trump was asked Tuesday afternoon why people in the government would be laid off during a shutdown when the federal workforce has already undergone a reduction through cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump reinforced that people will be laid off during the shutdown and placed blame on Democrats, again falsely claiming that Democrats want certain health care guarantees for immigrants without legal status.
“Well, the Democrats want to shut it down. So, when you shut it down, you have to do layoffs. So, we'd be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. And the Democrats, they're going to be Democrats,” Trump said.
“As you know, we -- this country, no country, can afford to pay for illegal immigration, health care for everybody that comes into the country. And that's what they're insisting. And obviously, I have an obligation to not accept that -- that would affect everybody,” Trump said.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to staff of the Justice Department Tuesday, placing blame on Democrats for any potential government shutdown that she says could result in some of DOJ's activities coming to a halt.
"Unfortunately, Democrats are blocking [the] Continuing Resolution in the U.S. Senate due to unrelated policy demands," Bondi said in the memo. "If Congressional Democrats maintain their current posture and refuse to pass a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded before 12:00 a.m. On Oct. 1, 2025, federal appropriated funding will lapse."
Bondi noted the department has existing contingency plans in place in the event a shutdown occurs and informed applicable employees to be on the lookout in the event they are temporarily furloughed.
The department has previously said civil litigation activities could be curtailed or "postponed" as a result of a shutdown -- and operations such as training of employees and work in offices not involving national security, law enforcement or criminal justice system responsibilities could also be impacted.
-ABC News' Alexander Mallin
Trump told reporters that his administration was close to finalizing a deal with Harvard University, which would include the university paying $500 million and operating trade schools.
"This would be a giant trade school, a series of trade schools. It would be run by Harvard," he added.
Harvard and the Department of Education did not immediately have a comment.
-ABC News' Hannah Demissie
