The intense partisan politics that drove Washington into a shutdown are making the path out of it hard to see.

It's a stare-down, and one side has to blink — with Republicans and Democrats each vowing it won't be them.

Democrats have shot down a GOP-crafted stopgap to fund the government at current levels through Nov. 21, demanding an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and new restrictions on the administration’s practice of withholding federal funds.

The impetus to find a solution is on Republicans who have the White House and both majorities, they argue.

“They’re in charge. They have to convene a negotiation. They haven’t done that,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Tuesday. “The fact that they aren't even here in the House of Representatives is proof that they're not serious about it.”

"Trump has to actually be willing to negotiate and make a deal,” echoed Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.). “He wrote a book about making deals. He played a character on a TV show who taught people how to make deals. And he hasn't really done that as president, but this is his opportunity to do that.”

GOP leaders are pushing back, saying they merely need more time to negotiate a longer-term bipartisan agreement — time that their “clean” continuing resolution is designed to buy.

They insist they will not haggle over the ObamaCare tax credits amid a shutdown.

“We’re not going to discuss and negotiate it while they’re holding the hostage of the federal government,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday morning on CNBC. “Release the hostage, and we will have that conversation about how we can keep........

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