WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is making a new offer to reopen the government on Friday as Republicans have refused to negotiate on their demands to extend health care subsidies.
Schumer is offering Republicans simultaneous votes to end the government shutdown and extending expiring health care subsidies for one year. Democrats are also proposing to establish a bipartisan committee to address Republican demands for changes to the Affordable Care Act.
“All Republicans have to do is say yes,” Schumer said.
Schumer's offer comes as lawmakers in both parties were feeling increased urgency to alleviate the growing crisis at airports, pay government workers and restore delayed food aid to millions of people. But it was uncertain whether Republicans would accept it as many in the GOP conference have opposed a straight extension, arguing that the tax credits need reform first.
Still, it is a significant development as Senate Majority Leader John Thune pleaded with Democrats Thursday to “end these weeks of misery” and as Democrats have held out for 38 days for an extension of the expiring ACA tax credits that expire Jan. 1.
A small group of Democrats has been negotiating with Republicans on a deal that would end the shutdown. But the contours of that agreement would only come with the promise of a future health care vote, rather than a guarantee that Affordable Care Act subsidies are extended by the end of the year. Many Democrats have said that's unacceptable.
It has been a frustrating dynamic for Republican leaders, who only need five additional votes to fund the government.
Republicans have been refusing to negotiate with Democrats on health care, insisting that they vote to reopen the government first. They were planning instead to introduce a new, bipartisan package of bills that they hope will break the impasse.
Thune said he's likely to keep the Senate in session over the weekend for the first time since the shutdown began, an effort to apply pressure and resolve the standoff.
A choice for Democrats
A test vote on the new package, which has not been made public, could come as soon as Friday.
Democrats will then have a crucial choice to make: Do they keep fighting for a meaningful deal on extending the subsidies that expire in January, while prolonging the pain of the shutdown? Or do they vote to reopen the government and hope for the best as Republicans promise an eventual health care vote, but not a guaranteed outcome?
After a caucus meeting on Thursday, many Democrats said they would continue to hold out for negotiations.
“That’s what leaders do,” said Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M. “You have the gavel, you have the majority, you have to bring people together.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has not yet weighed in. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said Democrats are “obviously not unanimous” but “without something on health care, the vote is very unlikely to succeed.”
New effort to reopen the government
Thune’s decision to keep the Senate in session came after Trump urged Republicans at a White House breakfast Wednesday to end the shutdown quickly. He's urging Republicans to end the legislative filibuster, which requires 60 Senate votes for most legislation, so that they bypass Democrats altogether and fund the government.
“I am totally in favor of terminating the filibuster, and we would be back to work within 10 minutes after that vote took place,” Trump said Friday.
Republicans have emphatically rejected Trump's call, instead eyeing a bipartisan package that would pay for parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things — and extend funding for everything else until December or January. The three annual spending bills that would likely be included are the product of bipartisan negotiations that have continued through the shutdown.
The package would replace the House-passed bill that the Democrats have rejected repeatedly. That would only extend government funding until Nov. 21, a date that is rapidly approaching after six weeks of inaction.
The new package would mirror a tentative proposal that moderate Democrats have been sketching out. The framework led by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., would also take up Republicans on their offer to hold a vote on extending the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies at a later date.
It was unclear what Thune, who has refused to negotiate, would promise on health care.
Johnson delivers setback to bipartisan talks
Democrats are facing pressure from unions eager for the shutdown to end and from allied groups that want them to hold firm. Many Democrats have argued that the wins for Democrats on Election Day show voters want them to continue the fight until Republicans yield and agree to extend the health tax credits.
A vote on the health care subsidies “has got to mean something,” said Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. “That means a commitment by the speaker of the House, that he will support the legislation, that the president will sign.”
But Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., made clear he will not make any commitments. “I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson said on Thursday when asked if he could promise a vote on a health care bill.
Johnson’s clear refusal was a setback for negotiators. Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, one of the moderate Democrats involved in negotiations, said the speaker's comments were “a significant problem.”
“We have to make sure we have a deal that we can get broad support for,” Peters said.
As Democrats try to figure out what to do, Schumer has not said when he thinks the shutdown should end. He and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York have called for Trump to sit down with them and negotiate — a meeting that seems unlikely to happen.
“Donald Trump clearly is feeling pressure,” Schumer said.
Closed-door negotiations become public
The Democrats and Republicans who have been talking insisted they were making steady progress on a deal.
Republicans suggested on Thursday they might be open to including language in a final agreement that would reverse some mass firings of government workers by the White House, according to two people familiar with the private talks granted anonymity to discuss them. It was unclear whether that proposal would be included in the new package.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican who has been talking to Democrats, says she wants furloughed workers to be given back pay and workers who have been fired during the shutdown to be “recalled.”
“We’re still negotiating that language,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti, and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
