Senate Majority Leader John Thune laid out a path to end the government shutdown in an exclusive interview Wednesday, saying he is willing to discuss the shape of future health care negotiations if a “critical mass” of Democrats say they are willing to support a House-passed funding bill in return.
The comments, made in his Capitol office less than 18 hours into the first shutdown since 2019, are in keeping with the South Dakota Republican’s current strategy — which is to let pressure build on Democrats to back the GOP-led House stopgap as the only solution.
But Thune acknowledged that he has had back-channel conversations with Democrats and said he’s willing to discuss how to structure a negotiation on Obamacare insurance subsidies that are set to lapse at the end of the year.
“I keep telling them: When they have eight or 10 — preferably 10, or more — when they have a critical mass, let me know if there’s a conversation they want to have,” Thune said.
He insisted he would not negotiate on the substance of an extension while the government is closed. But pressed on whether he was open to discussions with Democrats about how the health care negotiations might work post-shutdown or how to advance full-year appropriations bills, Thune said, “We are.”
“Some of those conversations are happening,” he added. “With our members and their members there’s a lot of back-and-forth going on right now about some of the things they would like to see happen.”
Those bipartisan conversations spilled into public view Wednesday when a large group of senators talked on the Senate floor about how the government might be reopened. The talks, according to several lawmakers involved, are in their early phases. But they are a sign that, less than 24 hours into the shutdown, lawmakers are already looking for the way out of it.
Republicans involved in the bipartisan talks say that a framework for negotiations on the health insurance subsidies has come up, as well as a timeline for wrapping them up. Some Democrats want a deal by Nov. 1, when open enrollment starts for plans offered on Affordable Care Act exchanges. Linking it to the passage of a larger appropriations package after the shutdown fight has also been discussed.
But GOP senators said they are largely offering reassurances to Democrats that dozens of their members, and Thune, are willing to have a negotiation on the subsidies once the government is reopened under the House-passed continuing resolution.
Thune backed up that message Wednesday, reiterating in the interview that the GOP funding patch through Nov. 21 remains the only viable option: “Everybody wants a solution, wants a way out. But I don’t know how you do that absent opening up the government.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer continued Wednesday to push for a substantive negotiation on health care as 44 of the 47 members of the Democratic caucus remained behind him in a third vote against the House CR. Another five would have to break ranks to pass the bill.
Thune said in the interview that he believed Schumer is in a “tough spot” but that he hoped he would give rank-and-file Democrats “latitude” in their current discussions with Republicans.
Schumer, for his part, offered public support for the bipartisan Senate talks Wednesday, noting that he and other Democrats have been saying for weeks that Republicans need to talk to them.
While some Democratic lawmakers have warned they won’t vote for the stopgap bill unless a deal on extending the insurance subsidies is written into it, others have left the door open to an off-ramp that would fall short of that red line.
“One of the reasons probably why there are some of us in this camp is that there are Republicans telling us, ‘We agree with you. For our own interest, we have to fix this,’” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who is involved in the talks, said Wednesday.
Thune, however, said he could not guarantee that a deal on extending the premium tax credits would be ready to be passed by Nov. 21, when the House stopgap would expire.
“I don’t know we can have a deal that could pass by then but I think there are … definitely discussions around things that could lead” to one, he said.
What to do about the soon-to-expire subsidies badly divides Republicans. Conservatives want to let them lapse at the end of the year. But a swath of House and Senate Republicans are open to extending them later this year with changes, such as new income limits, language aimed at preventing potential fraud and new minimum out-of-pocket premiums.
“What I can’t guarantee, of course, is an outcome and, in particular, one that would clear in the House, too,” Thune added. “The White House is another factor here. But I think everybody realizes we want solutions.”
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