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Looking for signs of life? Don’t check the Capitol.
The government shutdown is now set to run until Monday – at least 20 days – and the mood in the Capitol is nearing rock bottom with very few bright spots. On Thursday, Democrats voted down the House-passed spending bill for a tenth time in their bid for a health care deal, then blocked a defense spending bill.
The Senate then went home for a three-day weekend before 3 p.m. The House has been gone for nearly a month.
Even the sunniest of optimists are struggling to find a bright side.
“This is asinine. The very people who say the administration has too much power continue to give it to them,” fumed Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., after the Democrats blocked the defense bill. “I’m over the whining … I am over this childish behavior.”
President Donald Trump is letting Capitol Hill fight out the shutdown, and it is not going well. There are no leadership-level conversations to reopen the government. One-on-one bipartisan conversations between senators have failed to create a negotiating group.
Some key Democrats are encouraged by Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s repeated offers to hold a vote on expiring health care subsidies once they vote to reopen the government — but not encouraged enough to actually cast a vote to reopen the government.
“That’s a start. I want to try and get more clarity as to what exactly we would put up there and what it would look like,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Semafor. “I’ve had a discussion with a number of Republicans. We still haven’t come together as to what exactly it would look like.”
Some Republicans think that once this weekend’s No Kings protests are over, Democrats will be more likely to vote to reopen the government. But they also worry that Democrats want to more fully pin soon-to-rise health insurance rates on them.
“Their goal might be November 1. Obviously, they don’t want to be hit because of this No Kings rally. They don’t want their own base coming after them,” said Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
“I still think they’re waiting for those notices to go out of increased premiums for constituents. I think they want to scare everybody and say, ‘Look, it’s Republicans that are doing this.’”
The Affordable Care Act exchanges open up on Nov. 1. The longest government shutdown ever went 35 days.
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Democrats dismissed the idea that they will cave after this weekend’s rallies.
Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., said no House or Senate Democrats have brought up the rallies in the context of the shutdown fight: “I’ve not heard anyone mention that.”
“I have no idea where that comes from. Does that make any sense? No. I mean, these guys are coming up with excuses for everything. First it was: We’re trying to fund illegals. And this and that,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz.
Gallego said Thune’s promise for a future vote isn’t enough for him — and most Democrats agreed. The idea has now been circulating for a solid week, and Thune said Democrats have mostly rejected it.
“I think the fact that he’s saying it publicly now, is progress,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., one of three Democrats to vote to advance the defense spending bill. She has not talked to Thune about it personally.
Referring to Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, she added: “Maybe they should talk to each other.”
Thune said he’s willing to talk to Schumer — when the government reopens. And he’s hoping that the eleventh time is the charm on Monday.
“Here’s the question: When they come back after the No Kings rally this weekend, are they willing to end the shutdown?” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., a close Thune ally.
“Or are they going to drag this all the way into November because they want the health insurance rates to increase and try to make a point?”
Room for Disagreement
Lujan said the Senate can only do so much on its own.
“Get the rest of the House Republicans over here. If you need us in a room, then let’s get in a room. I think Speaker Johnson needs to hear from the president. The president, during his pressers a week ago, sounded like he wanted to do something on health care as well,” Lujan said.
“I don’t know why that wouldn’t be enough momentum to get people talking,” he added.
Notable
- New polling shows that both parties are starting to take relatively equal blame for the shutdown, per ABC.