Senate Republicans voted Friday to reject a Democratic bill to fund the government past the end of the month in the first of dueling partisan votes on avoiding an Oct. 1 shutdown.
Senators voted 47-45 to reject the bill, which pairs government funding through Oct. 31 with health care policies and restrictions on President Donald Trump’s ability to hold back spending approved by Congress.
The Democratic proposal was widely expected to fail — it needed 60 votes to pass, which would have required support from more than a dozen Republicans. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed to get GOP senators on the record rejecting some of the health care ideas wrapped into the bill, including a permanent extension of soon-to-expire health insurance subsidies.
Schumer on Friday said the two bills “truly crystallize the contrast between the two parties.”
“Senators will have to choose to stand with Donald Trump and keep the same lousy status quo … or stand with the American people, protect their healthcare and keep the government functioning,” Schumer said.
With the Democratic proposal being rejected, the Senate will now vote on the House-passed stopgap bill, which funds the government until Nov. 21. That GOP-led proposal is also expected to fail because it will need 60 votes, which would require help from at least seven Democratic senators. It won a single Democratic vote in the House, from Maine Rep. Jared Golden.
Democrats have vowed to oppose the GOP bill because Republicans didn’t negotiate with Schumer or House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who have repeatedly pressed their GOP counterparts for a meeting to no avail.
Republicans, while suggesting they are open to talking, have bristled at the idea that they need to agree on a deal to extend the health insurance subsidies as part of the September funding bill since the credits do not expire until the end of the year.
“The contrast between the Republican bill and the Democratic bill is glaring. The Republican bill is clean, nonpartisan, short-term continuing resolution to fund the government to give us time to do the full appropriations process. And the Democrat bill is the opposite,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said ahead of the vote.
Republicans were initially loath to give Democrats a vote on their proposal, but Democrats played procedural hardball by objecting to the Senate’s ability to leave for a scheduled one-week break. Republicans agreed to the side-by-side votes Thursday evening, as first reported by POLITICO.
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