Senate Republicans will keep members in Washington through the weekend pending a possible deal with Democrats to end what’s become the longest government shutdown in history.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will hold another vote Friday to advance a House-passed stopgap funding measure to reopen the government through Nov. 21, according to a source familiar with the matter. The bill has failed to clear a 60-vote filibuster 14 previous times, and Friday’s vote is expected to be no different.
Senate Democrats came away from a Thursday afternoon meeting still split on strategy over whether to come to the table with an offer to end the shutdown, as rank-and-file centrist Democrats continued backchanneling with Republican counterparts to break an impasse centered on expiring Obamacare subsidies. A growing number of centrists are prepared to cut a deal, while progressives have dug in on their healthcare demands following the party’s success in Tuesday’s elections across the country, creating tensions within the Democratic caucus.
“I just don’t want a food bank Thanksgiving,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), among the trio of Democratic dissenters to support the GOP spending bill, told the Washington Examiner. He described continued divisions in his party following the latest closed-door meeting.
“I’m not sure we’re any closer” to a deal, Fetterman added. “I don’t see any votes changing, at this point.”
Thune, on what marked Day 37 of the record-setting shutdown, said he “can’t guarantee [Democrats] an outcome” but could “guarantee them a process” on a stand-alone vote to extend the Obamacare subsidies in exchange for reopening the government. It’s an offer the GOP has made for weeks, but so far has been rebuffed by most Democrats.
“I can’t speak for the House. And, obviously, I can’t guarantee an outcome here. And they know that,” Thune said. “The clear path forward here, with regard to the ACA issue, is they get a vote and we open up the government, and we head down to the White House and sit down with the president and talk about it.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would not make the same vote commitment for his side of the Capitol on extending the healthcare credits, adding to Senate Democrats’ distrust of any potential shutdown off-ramp.
“I think he’s made himself an empty suit, and it’s really up to Donald Trump,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a freshman Democratic senator and former House member who is having informal talks with House Republicans. “He’s the decider. He’s the decision-maker. He’s the Art of the Deal guy. I think we need his nod on whatever happens.”
In another sign of willingness to work through the weekend, Thune scheduled a 5 p.m. vote. The upper chamber typically departs for the weekend early Thursday afternoon. The vote, which is expected to fail, is on a bipartisan measure forced by rank-and-file senators to block President Donald Trump from conducting strikes against Venezuela following a series of operations against alleged drug boats from the country.
A stopgap spending bill to fund the government into the new year, combined with other bipartisan, full-year appropriations bills for portions of the government, is a possible shutdown off-ramp eyed by senators of both parties.
In addition to the Obamacare standoff, Democrats are pushing for a reversal of Trump’s mass, permanent federal layoffs during the shutdown. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), whose state is home to many federal workers, described it as his “principal issue.”
But riding high after their election victories and armed with more perceived leverage, progressives have warned their more centrist colleagues not to “cave” or “surrender” to Republicans without healthcare guarantees.
“There’s a real sense of gravity, given what happened on Tuesday, with a clear message from the American people,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a member of leadership, said of this week’s election results. “It makes a lot more sense for us to come together on a joint strategy rather than have division in the caucus.”
PROGRESSIVES WARN CENTRIST SENATE COLLEAGUES NOT TO ‘CAVE’ ON SHUTDOWN
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is among those whose demands remain unchanged, citing an acknowledgment from Trump that the shutdown may have hurt GOP candidates at the ballot box.
“Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure to bring this shutdown to an end,” Schumer said prior to the caucus meeting. “Meet with Democrats, reopen the government, fix the ACA crisis. That’s the best way to put this crisis behind us.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.