WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told Senate Republicans Thursday that they should expect to vote on a new proposal Friday aiming to end the government shutdown, according to people familiar with the plan, in an attempt by GOP leaders to build momentum toward a deal.
Democrats, however, indicated they weren’t sold on the emerging package, with some saying they would need their core demand of extending Affordable Care Act subsidies to be part of any legislation.
The plan to vote on a revised proposal comes as the impact of the shutdown continues to grow. Government workers have gone without pay for weeks, and low-income families are seeing cuts in food aid and other assistance programs. On Thursday, airlines scrambled to review flight plans after federal officials said they would reduce commercial air traffic starting Friday in response to the government shutdown.
The proposal would combine a short-term spending measure with a package of three full-year funding bills, covering the legislative branch, agriculture, and military construction and veterans affairs. It was unclear whether the interim measure would aim to keep the government open through mid-December or January.
How ACA subsidies, a central concern of Democrats, would figure into the revised approach also remained in flux, and some Democrats warned they wouldn’t be satisfied by a pledge of future action.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said the subsidies needed to be included in any stopgap bill. “Settling for some kind of vague promise about a vote in the future on some indeterminate bill, without any definite inclusion in the law, I think is a mistake.”
Thune acknowledged the uphill fight. Democrats “seem to be walking back or slow-walking this,” he told reporters. “This is what they asked for.”
To draw Democratic support, one element under discussion includes a proposal to stop or even roll back the firings that the White House initiated at the start of the shutdown. Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) has for weeks made plain that he could support an interim spending bill if he had a guarantee against more so-called reductions in force—an important addition to the bloc of Democrats who have already voted to fund the government.
Some Democrats, particularly in the progressive wing, have insisted on a guarantee that enhanced Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies, which flow to 22 million people, would be extended past the end of this year, but Republican leaders declined to make that promise. Instead, Thune has offered a vote on extending ACA subsidies, but no guarantee it will pass.
“We’ve got a dilemma,” said Sen. Peter Welch (D., Vt.). “There’s no other institution that can protect folks from the hammer blow of these explosive premium increases,” he said, “and the dilemma of a shutdown that does cause harm to people.”
The House, which would also need to approve any deal, adds a complication. GOP lawmakers pushed through their own stopgap spending deal in mid-September that would have kept the government funded until Nov. 21. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) has insisted the Senate approve that bill before any talks could take place and has kept the chamber out of session for more than a month.
On Thursday, Johnson said he wasn’t part of the talks and wouldn’t make any guarantees.
“The House did its job on Sept. 19,” he said. “I’m not promising anybody anything.”
Since September, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) has demanded talks to extend the expiring enhanced ACA subsidies before Democrats will provide the votes for a GOP bill to reopen the government. Republicans have a 53-47 Senate majority, and so far, only three senators who caucus with Democrats have crossed the aisle in more than a dozen failed votes. Democrats felt that favorable election results Tuesday bolstered their negotiating hand.
President Trump has declined to engage in talks with Democrats since the shutdown began, insisting that they vote to reopen the government first. In recent days, he has pressed Senate Republicans to bypass Democrats by eliminating the filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes to advance most legislation. GOP senators have largely pushed back against Trump’s demand but have grown frustrated by the lack of progress.
“This thing, I’ve told you before, this is a total goat rodeo,” said Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, as he departed the meeting with Senate Republicans. “I can’t tell you what it’s going to be. I don’t think they know what it’s going to be.”
Senate Democrats spent hours behind closed doors on Thursday in the hopes of finding a breakthrough but were tight-lipped on details.
“It was a caucus in which we were trying to organically come to a conclusion and I think that process is still happening,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.). “I just think we had a real desire in that meeting and previous meetings today to try to find a way to get together and we’re closer.”
Senate Republicans have been urging their Democratic colleagues to back the revised approach, which would provide full-year funding for three of 12 annual appropriations bills and aim to create time to complete the rest. Passing annual appropriations laws—rather than so-called continuing resolutions—would limit the executive branch’s discretion to withhold congressionally approved funds, and members of both parties have bristled at the budget cuts and firings Trump’s budget director has initiated this year.
“The argument I’m making is we’ve got to get going on these [appropriations] bills or we’re going to end up with a yearlong” continuing resolution, Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.) said.