Republicans made a new offer to Senate Democrats Thursday in hopes of cutting a deal that would end the 37-day government shutdown and advance a package of three full-year spending bills, according to four people granted anonymity to disclose the private discussions.
The new offer arrived just ahead of a crucial closed-door lunch where Democratic senators will discuss the path forward. Republicans have thrown a new sweetener in the mix, according to two of the people — that they are willing to discuss rehiring federal workers who have been laid off during the shutdown as part of a deal to end it.
Democrats have pressed for weeks to make President Donald Trump’s “reductions in force” part of a shutdown-ending deal. What exactly the rehiring terms would be is undecided, but the two people said it was now part of the negotiations.
The package of appropriations legislation would include the Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch funding bills, according to three of the people.
Getting a deal on the full-year bills wouldn’t be enough to reopen the government. But it would be a key step forward because lawmakers are expected to attach the stopgap spending bill that would reopen the government to the full-year package.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday that Republicans had made Democrats an offer but did not detail what it included.
The offer from Republicans does not address the date of the stopgap bill, which is subject to internal debate among Republicans, or Democrats’ main point of contention — the soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who has been a key negotiator, told reporters on Thursday morning that “we need to make sure that federal employees who have been RIFed are able to come back to work.”
Bipartisan negotiations have been underway for months on the three funding measures Senate leaders are hoping to advance. After the Senate passed its own versions of the bills in August, top appropriators began bicameral negotiations on final bills that could pass both chambers.
If Congress clears the proposed package, funding for the affected departments and programs — including the crucial Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — would be guaranteed through next September. An attached spending patch would end the shutdown but fund the rest of the government at current levels for only a few more months.
Joe Gould contributed to this report.
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