WASHINGTON — Republican leaders are ratcheting up pressure on their Democratic colleagues to end the federal shutdown, claiming no deals can be made on extraneous policy legislation until they vote to reopen the government.

Top Republicans ramped up the rhetoric in their public remarks this week, calling out Senate Democrats by name to personally blame them for the shutdown — calling them responsible for the expected lapse in SNAP funding that could leave millions of Americans without food assistance starting this weekend.

“On Saturday, things are going to become very dark,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Thursday. “There is one way out of this, the easy way, the obvious way, and that is for the Democrats to do their job and vote for this nonpartisan funding measure so that

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