Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday revealed he made Democratic leadership an offer to end the government shutdown, which has now reached its 16th day.
Under the terms of the deal, Thune said he pledged to open up a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies. Republicans have refused to attach the tax credits to a “clean” continuing resolution to open the government up, triggering Senate Democrats’ move to vote down the House-passed CR for the ninth time on Wednesday.
In a push to nudge his counterparts to the negotiating table, Thune said later Wednesday evening he’s willing to “guarantee” Democrats a separate vote on extending the subsidies “by a date certain” as long as they first vote to back the CR and end the shutdown.
“At some point, Democrats have to take ‘yes’ for an answer,” he told MSNBC News during an interview.
Thune’s comments echo previous statements he has made expressing support for negotiating with Democrats about healthcare reforms after they agree to reopen the government. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has made similar pledges in the lower chamber.
Democrats want guarantees on a full, permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies attached to the CR. Johnson and Thune say such a measure is impossible. While expressing support for some measure of extensions, they argue that debate, particularly in the raucous House, over the matter promises to be a lengthy process that would be better undertaken later this fall, after the government is reopened.
Democrats have declined to accept a compromise of a one-year extension of the expiring subsidies. The stalemate has stretched into its third week, as Republicans argued they have nothing to negotiate with, given there are no GOP priorities attached to the clean CR, which would keep the government funded at current levels.
A White House official said President Donald Trump, Thune, Johnson, and Republican lawmakers remain in “lockstep” on the CR in comments to Punchbowl.
“It’s not difficult to be on the same page when you’re on the right one,” the official said.
Thune said Tuesday that he doesn’t think more Democrats are “ready quite yet” to vote for the GOP’s CR.
“But there’s still a lot of conversations that are happening,” he added. “I think they’re trying to find a way.”
Johnson has argued Democrats have backed similar “clean” CR’s keeping the government open over a dozen times in recent years. The House speaker has suggested Schumer is simply afraid to back the measure because he was condemned by left-wing factions in his party in March when he agreed to back a similar CR.
“It’s the first time in history that a clean CR has ever been the subject of a government shutdown,” Johnson said last week. “Chuck Schumer is playing political games right now for his own political future. He’s afraid he’s going to get a challenge from the Marxist left in his party, and so he’s dramatically changed course from everything he said for over 40 years here in the Congress, roll the tape.”
Earlier this spring, liberals outraged over Schumer’s vote on the CR floated ousting him in the next election by mounting a primary challenge against the Senate Democrat.
At the time, Schumer said that “as bad as passing the CR is, allowing Donald Trump to take even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
“A shutdown would give Donald Trump the keys to the city, the country,” he warned.
A bipartisan group of senators is exploring an alternative approach to resolving the gridlock over Obamacare subsidies and ending the shutdown, according to new developments reported on Thursday. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) is leading discussions revolving around the possibility of holding two side-by-side votes intended to end the shutdown, according to Punchbowl.
SENATE CONFIRMS HERSCHEL WALKER AND 106 OTHER NOMINEES IN LARGEST BLOC VOTE TO DATE
The first vote would be to reopen the government, while the second would be on a one-year extension of the Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits, plus a commitment to pass a longer-term solution by a date certain.
The effort is unlikely to make it far, given Republicans have already ruled out the idea of tying an Obamacare extension to the CR.