What Congress has(n’t) done for you.
Or what have they done for the rich?
Republicans scramble for ideas to reopen government after pressure tactics fail
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and his Republican leadership team are scrambling for new ideas to end the 38-day government shutdown after it became clear Friday that tactics to pressure Democrats to vote for a House-passed funding bill have failed so far.
Senate Republicans are batting around various ideas to break the stalemate, such as voting on a new Senate-drafted bill that would fund a large swath of the federal government through fiscal year 2026.
This approach, championed by members of the Appropriations Committee, would entail voting on three regular appropriations bills that passed the Senate earlier this year with strong bipartisan support and which have been vetted with House Republicans.
Another idea, promoted by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), is to unveil a Republican-drafted bill that would seek to lower rising health care costs — tackling the issue at the center of the battle over government funding.
A third proposal, touted by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), is to encourage the Trump administration to raid federally funded projects in Democratic states such as California and New York to come up with additional funding to pay active-duty members of the military and air traffic controllers during the shutdown.
Senate Republican leaders are looking for new tactics to end the shutdown as rank-and-file GOP lawmakers tire of voting repeatedly on a House-passed clean continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 21.
Senate Democrats have blocked the House-passed bill 14 times, and Thune has been unable to increase the number of Democrats supporting the measures despite repeated entreaties to his colleagues.
“There’s no reason to vote on the same stuff that we voted in the past just to do it again,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told reporters Friday.
Government shutdown impasse stretches on as Senate Republicans reject Democrats’ health care offer
What to know on Day 39 of the government shutdown:
- Senate Democrats offered on Friday to end the government shutdown in exchange for a one-year extension of health care tax credits and a plan to continue broader talks, a proposal that was swiftly rejected by Republicans, who grew increasingly frustrated with their colleagues over the course of the day.
- Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out the Democratic proposal on the Senate floor in the afternoon. He said Democrats would back a bill to quickly reopen the government if it included the one-year extension of tax credits to bring down the cost of health insurance premiums.
- GOP senators rejected the offer out of hand. Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News it was a “nonstarter” that “doesn’t even get close.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called it “terrible” and “political terrorism.”
- The path forward in the Senate remains unclear. The chamber blocked a GOP bill that would pay federal workers during the funding lapse on Friday. Democrats blocked quick consideration of the measure earlier in the day, contributing to the tensions between the two sides.
- Thune said the Senate is likely to work through the weekend, but he has not scheduled a 15th vote on the House-passed continuing resolution. That vote is seen as the key to unlocking a deal put forward by Republicans that would tie an extension of government funding to a trio of longer-term appropriations bills.
- Separately the Supreme Court stepped in late Friday and temporarily froze a court order requiring the Trump administration to provide full food benefits for the month of November, rather than the partial payments that the administration plans on sending.