Senate Democrats are reportedly set on continuing to drag out the government shutdown with another “no” vote on Friday, with members claiming that “people want us to fight” and that the caucus is “unified” in how they are going to do so.
A Thursday closed-door meeting ended with Democrats “coalescing around a unified strategy rather than splintering into factions,” Semafor reported, noting that a number of Democrats are looking to end the shutdown, “but probably not enough to prevail in a vote on Friday.”
One source familiar with the inner workings of the caucus confirmed to the outlet that Democrats want to keep pushing to extend the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) enhanced premium tax cuts, which are currently set to expire at the end of the year.
Republicans indicated in the earlier days of the shutdown that they would only negotiate on the issue once the government is funded, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has since said that he is now willing to guarantee a vote on the subsidies — but not an outcome, the outlet reported.
Thune emerged from his own meeting on Thursday, where he told fellow Senate Republicans that his Friday plan is to bring up the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that Senate Democrats have blocked numerous times in order to try to amend it with a later expiration date and a “negotiated package of three full-year spending bills,” Politico reported.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said they may even support a reversal of reductions in force (RIF) of federal workers made by President Donald Trump, telling reporters that “those who were RIF’d during the shutdown should be recalled.”
Democrats appeared to still be determined to get a better deal and are expected to continue blocking the CR absent greater progress in negotiations.
“We know what our mission is to try to take the message from Tuesday that people want us to fight to keep costs down. And we want to stay together,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). “So we’re working that through.”
He added that it “makes a lot more sense for us to come together on a joint strategy than have division in the caucus. And we’re a lot closer to that.”
“We’re unified in how we’re going to move forward,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). “The key part of it is health care and how we take care of our federal workers.”
Thune said the Democrats who do want to break away from their caucus to reopen the government are under “pressure” to remain on board with the shutdown.
“There are Democrats who are inclined to do the right thing. They’re under an enormous amount of pressure from the left,” the Republican leader said. “There are a few who really want to, in my view, do the right thing and get this over with.”
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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