The government shutdown hit its 40th day on Sunday as the Senate prepared to reconvene for day two of its rare weekend session to try to move the needle as lawmakers sounded the alarm on rising disruptions to flights and beneficiary programs.
The Senate was set to meet Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., with Republicans scheduled to go to conference before then to determine a way forward. Senators are working to finalize a three-bill “minibus” that would fund some of the government. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has a plan to vote on the House continuing resolution as well as the appropriations bill, but it’s unclear whether it will be enough to get Democrats on board.
The chamber went into recess on Saturday with no solution, and there are limited signs that a deal will be reached in the near future, as Democrats refuse to budge on healthcare and Republicans dismissed a Democratic plan that included extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies for one year.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 flights have been delayed and 1,100 canceled after the Federal Aviation Administration’s reductions went into effect on Friday at 40 high-traffic airports. This weekend saw a 4% reduction, with that percentage expected to increase to 6% by Nov. 11, 8% by Nov. 13, and up to 10% by Nov. 14.
Many airports have issued on-and-off ground stops, citing a lack of staffing. Air traffic controllers are deemed essential workers, meaning they still have to come to work during a government shutdown without being paid. They are entitled to back pay.
But, as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said, as a shutdown continues, ATC employees will stop showing up to work, either claiming illness or simply not arriving for a shift.
“If people want to question us, I would throw it back at them: Open up the government,” Duffy said on CBS Mornings on Friday. “You know, we have to take unprecedented action because we’re in an unprecedented situation with the shutdown.”
Another pressure point on the shutdown is the lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, which began on Nov. 1, with many states suing the Trump administration to force them to use contingency funds to support SNAP during the shutdown.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted an emergency order from the administration to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP after a judge gave the White House until Friday to make the payments. But the administration asked an appeals court to suspend any court orders that would require it to spend more money than what was available in the contingency fund, which the Department of Agriculture has said does not have enough money to cover all the benefits.
A Boston appeals court declined to immediately intervene, so Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles matters out of Massachusetts, issued an order late Friday night to pause the requirement to fully distribute SNAP benefits until the appeals court rules on a more lasting pause.
Approximately 42 million low-income people receive SNAP benefits; as of Friday, officials in over six states confirmed that some SNAP recipients already received their full November payments on Friday. But Jackson’s emergency order could keep other states from initiating the payments.
Republicans and Democrats entered the weekend appearing to be further apart than they were at the beginning of the week after Thune and Republicans criticized the Democrats’ proposal as an unserious effort to end the shutdown, which is now the longest in U.S. history after surpassing the record of 35 days.
Schumer’s latest proposal was to pair a one-year extension of the enhanced benefits with stopgap funding to end the shutdown and a trio of bipartisan appropriations bills that would fund portions of the government for a full year. He also said there should be a bipartisan commission established to explore a long-term reform to healthcare costs.
But Republicans are digging in their heels, stating Democrats need to vote for the 60-vote filibuster and reopen the government, with Senate leadership saying they’d be willing to negotiate with Democrats on the Obamacare subsidies. But Democrats have been insistent before and since the shutdown began on Oct. 1 that they will not budge until the “healthcare crisis” has been solved.
It’s unclear whether Schumer’s proposal would even gain House Democratic support. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has previously criticized a one-year extension as insufficient, though on Friday he released a statement praising Schumer’s proposal as “very reasonable.”
MIKIE SHERRILL WIN KICKS OFF PROCESS TO REPLACE HER IN HOUSE — HERE’S WHY IT COULD TAKE A WHILE
House Republicans, meanwhile, immediately criticized the Democrats’ proposal and essentially said it would have no legs in the lower chamber, though it would likely attract some bipartisan support from blue state Republicans or centrist members who have expressed interest in some form of a one-year extension with more aggressive reforms in the future.
Thune has held a vote on the House CR, which passed on Sept. 19, 14 times. He reversed course on holding a 15th vote on Friday after Democrats said they would block it once again, coming off their Tuesday election victories that have given them a renewed sense of leverage in shutdown talks. But a 15th vote could come as early as Sunday afternoon.