WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republicans will listen to Democrats’ concerns about looming spikes in health insurance premiums — but only after a sufficient number of senators in the minority party vote to reopen the government, with no guarantee of getting something in return.
That’s according to the U.S. Senate Republican leadership team including John Barrasso of Wyoming, who said Wednesday there is no end in sight to the 22-day shutdown because a resolution “is entirely up to Senate Democrats.”
“President Trump and Senate Republicans have made it abundantly clear we are willing to negotiate with Democrats, but they have to open up the government first,” Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily.
But Senate Democrats know they will have no cards left to play if they help the GOP reach the supermajority of 60 votes needed to end the shutdown, because Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House.
The GOP holds a 53-47 edge in the Senate. Nearly all Democrats in the chamber remain insistent on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits, aimed at staving off skyrocketing insurance bills, in exchange for their votes to reopen the government.
The upshot: There are no negotiations on ending the shutdown, which is now the second-longest in history. Government services are crippled and 1 million federal workers — some furloughed, some working — are missing paychecks.
Late Wednesday, the Republicans’ short-term spending measure to fund the government failed in the Senate for a 12th time, this time falling on a 54-46 tally.
On some of the votes, not all senators have shown up to cast an aye or nay. But in no case has any senator changed his or her vote position during the three-week slog.
Continuing Resolution
The legislation at issue is called a continuing resolution, or CR. Historically, such stopgap measures are commonly approved when congressional appropriators fail to pass bipartisan, full-year spending packages by Oct. 1, the beginning of each federal fiscal year.
The current CR was passed by the House on a nearly party-line vote Sept. 19. The House has not held a single vote since then, as Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, has kept his caucus away from Washington to signal that the CR is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.
“The House fulfilled its duty,” U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “The American people are waiting. It is past time for Democrats to stop with the theatrics and reopen our government.”
In theory, CRs buy time for bipartisan talks on full-year spending. But Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has repeatedly said the whole process is broken.
According to Schumer, passing a CR would do nothing to change the underlying appropriations disputes — most of them involving health care spending.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota has assured Democrats in recent days that a vote on the Obamacare tax credits will be held if Democrats vote to reopen the government first.
But Thune noted he could not guarantee an outcome on a vote to extend the credits.
Barrasso has said the credits were always meant to be temporary and would cost $350 billion to extend over 10 years.
Lummis: All On Schumer
Although Trump is unified with congressional Republicans in not negotiating to end the shutdown, he is “engaged and working hard behind the scenes,” U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
She joined Barrasso and others in the Senate GOP caucus for a meeting with Trump on Tuesday.
“This government shutdown rests entirely on the shoulders of Chuck Schumer and congressional Democrats who refuse to support a clean CR to fund the government,” Lummis said.
A CR known as “clean” contains no policy riders and simply extends current-year funding for a short time. The House-passed measure that keeps failing would last until Nov. 21.
Schumer, in floor remarks Wednesday, said he had asked Trump the day before to negotiate.
“He said — four hours later, after conferring with Thune and Johnson — no he wouldn’t,” Schumer said. “It is a disgrace.”
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
