White House says no shutdown-related layoffs yet, but warns they could come

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The White House on Monday backed off President Donald Trump's assertion that government employees were already being laid off due to the shutdown, but warned job losses could result as the standoff looked set to stretch into a seventh day. The Republican-led Senate for a fifth time rejected dueling measures to fund federal agencies, with insufficient support for both a Republican proposal to fund operations through November 21 and a Democratic version that would also extend healthcare subsidies due to expire at the end of the year. Trump told reporters at the White House that he would be open to a deal on the subsidies, which help 24 million people buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act - a law that Republicans bitterly opposed for years.