Summary
- Senate Democrats blocked the Republican bid to reopen government Wednesday.
- The shutdown entered its eighth day with no resolution.
- Senate votes on stopgap bills have repeatedly failed.
Eight days have passed since "Groundhog Day" in the Senate, but in contrast to the 1993 Bill Murray comedy, the senators haven't made much, if any, progress. Although discussions are still going on, they haven't progressed to full-fledged talks to end the government shutdown.
A bipartisan group of members gathered over Thai food in Washington the evening before the vote on Wednesday morning to talk about the closure and a solution.
Instead of repeating the same pattern when funding runs out again on November 21, the group's objective, according to Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., is to figure out a way to keep the government open.
"We're not working on a solution to reopen the government. We're not negotiating. We have a clean CR they've got to accept,"
Mullin said.
"Our whole goal is, how do we avoid, if we do reopen it, how do we avoid shutdown."
Congressional Republicans are adamant that passing their continuing resolution (CR), which would keep the government running until November 21, add millions to strengthen member security, and include a repair to the budget for Washington, D.C., which the House missed earlier this year, is the wisest course of action.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hopes that divisions emerge within the Democratic caucus' united front and plans to continue introducing the same bill. To date, however, just three members of the Senate Democratic caucus—Senators John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine—have broken away from the broader group.
However, Democrats have taken the fight to reopen the government with healthcare, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
"Nothing's changed,"
Thune said.
"We all understand, you know what they want to do, and we're not averse, as I've said repeatedly, to have that conversation. At some point, they have to take ‘yes’ for an answer."
While the credits don’t expire until the end of the year, Democrats argue that come the start of open enrollment on Nov. 1, Americans who rely on the subsidies will see a sharp increase in their premium costs unless Congress acts.
"We believe that the pressure that the American people are putting on the Republicans, which are already seeing signs of cracking, are going to get them to come to the table, and we can negotiate a good deal for the American people,"
Schumer said.
The administration's threats, spearheaded by Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), are lingering in the background. In two memos, he ordered agency layoffs, implied that furloughed workers might not be paid back, and blocked roughly $30 billion in infrastructure funds for blue states and localities.
The latter action contradicts a law signed by President Donald Trump that ensures workers who were furloughed after the longest shutdown in U.S. history in 2019 will receive their back pay.
Trump seemed to grant some leeway on the matter on Tuesday, even though firings were expected to occur soon.
"I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days,"
Trump told reporters.
"If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back, but you’re going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget."
What concessions are Senate Democrats demanding to reopen funding?
Democrats are looking to make permanent the pandemic-era tax credits that subsidize health insurance premiums in ACA marketplaces to avoid a potential premium spike at the end of the year.
Democrats wish to reverse cuts made to Medicaid included in the Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill,” bringing back funding that can support healthcare access for low-income Americans.
They wish to put guardrails on the President's ability to rescind or impound funds appropriated by Congress, hoping to stop the President from future cancellations of any approved spending such as an infrastructure project.