A vote to swiftly end the government shutdown failed Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that President Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to provide.

The tally showed cracks in the Democrats' resolve on day one of the shutdown but offered no breakthrough. Blame was being cast on all sides.

Appearing at the White House briefing, Vice President JD Vance said he doesn't believe

the shutdown will be lengthy, adding that moderate Democrats "are cracking a little bit."

"I can't predict what congressional Democrats are gonna do," Vance said. "But I actually don't think it's gonna be that long of a shutdown."

Still, he warned of firings of federal workers ahead.

"Let’s be honest, if this thing drags on for another few days or, God forbid, another few weeks, we are going to have to lay people off,” Vance said during a visit to the White House briefing room.

Roughly 750,000 federal workers were expected to be furloughed, with some potentially fired by Trump's Republican administration.

Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as the president vows to "do things that are irreversible" to punish Democrats.

Trump's deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead, while education, environmental and other services sputter. The economic fallout is expected to ripple nationwide.

Still, Vance insisted the administration is "not targeting federal agencies" or employees "based on politics."

The vice president told reporters the administration will work to ensure the government "functions as well as it can" during the shutdown period.

"We're gonna have to make things work, and that means that we gonna have to triage some certain things. That means certain people are gonna have get laid off, and we're gonna try to make sure that the American People suffer as little as possible from the shutdown," he said.