WASHINGTON (AP) — The consequences of a government shutdown setting in, senators labored Thursday to find a way forward but found themselves struggling to overcome a fundamental lack of trust between the two parties.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday afternoon floated an “off ramp” to the government funding impasse, suggesting that he could hold a later vote on expiring health care subsidies if Democrats would first support a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly dismissed the idea. “It’s nothing new, they say it all the time. It doesn’t do anything to make sure we get health care.”
The exchange showed how congressional leaders remain trapped in a stalemate on the ninth day of the government shutdown despite the growing toll of federal closures. Government offices nationwide have shuttered, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and U.S. military troops and other government employees are on track to miss a scheduled payday.
Thune's overture suggested one possible path forward, but it was unclear how serious the offer was or whether it would lead to any real negotiations with Democrats. Still, pressure is growing on congressional leaders to reach a deal as rank-and-file lawmakers grew anxious about the lack of progress on ending the shutdown.
One Democratic senator who has pressed for a compromise, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, argued that the offer from Thune showed there is a growing desire among Republicans to reach a deal on Democrats' demand to extend subsidies for health plans offered under the Affordable Care Act.
“The senator will continue to work across the aisle to find a path forward to reopen the government and protect Americans’ health care,” Shaheen's spokesman, Mike Gwin, said in a statement.
Still, President Donald Trump and Republicans have so far held to the stance that they will only negotiate on Democratic demands around health care benefits after they vote to reopen the government. They also say Schumer is beholden to the left wing of his party and only staging the shutdown fight to stave off a primary challenge.
Republicans jump on Schumer's comments
Schumer, a New York Democrat, told Punchbowl News in an interview that Democrats were winning the shutdown fight, saying, “Every day gets better for us.”
Republicans quickly seized on those comments, arguing it showed that the New York senator is approaching the shutdown with purely political motives.
Thune stood on the Senate floor flanked by a poster printed with Schumer's words.
“This isn't a political game. Democrats might feel that way, but I don't know anybody else that does,” said Thune, a South Dakota Republican. “The longer this goes on, the more the American people realize that Democrats own this shutdown.”
Schumer, in his own floor speech, responded that it was Trump and Republicans who are “playing with people's lives.”
“Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown, the worse it gets for Americans and the clearer it becomes who is fighting for them," said Schumer.
When a handshake deal is not enough
Democrats have insisted they can't take Trump or House Speaker Mike Johnson at their word and therefore need more than a verbal commitment for any deal.
“We’re in an environment where we need more than a handshake,” said Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat who has engaged in talks with Republicans.
Conflicts over spending power had already been raging before the shutdown as the White House pushed to assert maximum power over congressionally approved budgets. The White House budget office had canceled scores of government contracts, including cutting out the legislative branch entirely with a $4.9 billion cut to foreign aid in August through a legally dubious process known as a “pocket rescission.”
That enraged Democrats — and disturbed some Republicans who criticized it as executive overreach.
“I hate rescissions, to be honest with you, unless they’re congressionally approved,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican.
Then, as the government entered a shutdown, Trump's budget director Russ Vought laid out arguments that the president would have even more power to lay off workers and even cancel pay due to furloughed federal workers once the funding lapse is solved. Vought has also announced that the administration was withholding billions of dollars for infrastructure projects in states with Democratic senators who have voted for the shutdown.
“We’re only going to cut Democrat programs,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting Thursday. He added: “We’re going to give them a little taste of their own medicine.”
Yet on Capitol Hill, there has been an acknowledgment that the hardball tactics are making it harder to negotiate.
“I think with senators, carrots work better than sticks,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican.
Failed votes and the consequences of an extended shutdown
The Senate failed, in a 54-45 vote, to advance a stopgap funding bill for the seventh time Thursday, and there has been no sign of significant progress to ending the impasse.
Lawmakers are now looking ahead to the dates when federal employees will miss a payday, nervous about both the financial implications for federal employees and military members and the political blowback.
Active-duty military troops would miss a paycheck on Oct. 15. As Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, fielded questions on C-SPAN Thursday morning, one caller pleaded with him to pass legislation that would allow the military to get paid during the government shutdown.
The woman, identified as Samantha, said her husband serves in the military and that they "live paycheck to paycheck.”
She pleaded with Johnson to call the House back to Washington, saying, “You could stop this.”
Johnson said he was sorry to hear about her situation, blamed Democrats for refusing to pass the stop-gap spending bill and added, “I am angry because of situations just like yours.”
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Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.