Democrats could be looking at Nov. 1, the start of open enrollment for health insurance, as the next date for an opportunity to reopen the federal government as the shutdown enters its third week.
Senate Democrats are standing by their demands to negotiate a bipartisan deal in which Obamacare subsidies would be extended, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanding President Donald Trump get involved to cut a deal.
Once Nov. 1 passes, Republicans believe Democrats will lose their leverage. On the other hand, Democrats argue that pressure will increase on Republicans to come to the table on healthcare.
“It’s still not possible to stop the full impact of the rate increases after Nov. 1,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Punchbowl News last week. “If we don’t deal with this before Nov. 1, it becomes trickier to solve legislatively, but the heat gets turned way up by the public to do something.”
Democrats are positioning themselves as the ones representing the best interests of the public, whose healthcare premium costs are expected to rise drastically without congressional action.
“The American people are facing one of the most devastating crises they have faced in terms of cost, and we still have not heard crickets out of any negotiation with” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) or Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Schumer said on Thursday. “The Republicans are on the defensive. They keep changing their stories and changing their arguments, but we are on the side of the American people.”
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Meanwhile, Republicans in the White House and Congress maintain Democrats are the ones keeping the government closed.
The Senate failed to advance the House-passed continuing resolution for the 10th time on Thursday due to opposition from most Democrats.
Republicans’ stopgap funding measure is slated for an 11th vote on Monday. It will likely fail.
Republicans previously viewed Oct. 18, the date for the nationwide “No Kings” protests against Trump, as the last day Democrats would care about their demands. If no deal is reached this week, contrary to what Republicans projected, the next chance to end the shutdown might be Nov. 1.
Beyond healthcare, food stamps are also expected to get hit by the funding lapse if a deal isn’t reached by the start of next month. The Department of Agriculture estimates 42 million people will be affected by the loss of November benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), one of the few Senate Democrats to vote in favor of the “clean” continuing resolution, said food insecurity caused by the lack of SNAP benefits is “one of many reasons why I could never vote for shutting our government down.”
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There will also be a vote later in the week on a GOP-led bill to pay federal workers, who have been working without pay this month, and military service members, who were paid last week as part of a move by the Trump administration.
Democrats might oppose this bill because, if they vote in favor, it may be seen as kowtowing to Trump and the Republican Party on funding.