Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s plan to reopen the federal government is taking shape: Keep forcing votes on the House-passed funding bill until Democrats give in.
Three Senate Democrats are now on record backing the GOP’s Nov. 21 stopgap funding measure: Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine).
There are other Senate Democrats considering jumping ship. Thune needs five more to cave to pass the seven-week CR.
And for any Democrats hoping a shutdown would change his posture, Thune doubled down on his declaration that negotiations on Democrats’ chief ask — an extension of Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits — won’t begin until the government is reopened.
“Tonight was evidence that there is some movement there, and we’ll allow our Democrat colleagues to have additional opportunities to vote… to open [the government] back up,” Thune told us.
The Senate will vote again today on both the House-passed CR and Democrats’ Oct. 31 counter-proposal. Both are procedural votes set at 60. The Senate will also hold a procedural vote on a package of more than 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees.
There won’t be any Senate action on Thursday in observance of Yom Kippur. The Senate is expected to be in session on Friday and possibly Saturday for votes on government funding, as well as the nominations package.
Dems in a bind. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans are “feeling the heat” on the Obamacare subsidies. That may be true, as many of them want to cut a deal that would head off massive premium hikes. And Schumer said Democrats are “representing our constituents in the best way possible by insisting that Republicans come to the table.”
Yet there’s little evidence that Republicans are being forced to tie the issue to government funding.
“We need to keep the government open. You can talk about whatever else they want to talk about after that,” Thune said. “Anything that’s going to be done is going to have to be done with significant reforms. Like I said, we’re willing to have that conversation.”
It’s unclear if any additional Senate Democrats will vote to advance the House-passed CR today. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who are retiring, are among those worth watching.
“I think we need to get a resolution, and what’s been lacking is a commitment from the president,” Shaheen said.
Schumer’s leverage significantly diminishes if more Democrats vote for the GOP CR. There’ll be intense pressure to fold as the shutdown impacts become more pronounced.
“I voted to avoid a costly shutdown that would harm Nevada and hand power to a reckless administration. We should be working on bipartisan solutions to this health care crisis, but that doesn’t mean we should be” shutting down the government, Cortez Masto told reporters.
The stakes here are enormously high for Schumer. He was harshly criticized by progressives over his handling of the March funding fight. This time, Schumer has aligned closely with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Jeffries only lost one House Democrat — Rep. Jared Golden (Maine) — on the GOP CR proposal. Schumer has already lost three.
Schumer insisted Tuesday night that he still has the upper hand in the showdown with Thune and Trump.
“What gives us the ability to win this argument with the American people is, we’re standing for what they want with health care, and [Republicans] are not,” Schumer told us.
