Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-S.D.) says he expects the Senate to start voting at 5 p.m. Tuesday on competing Democratic and Republican proposals to fund the federal government, however each proposals are anticipated to fail to advance, placing Washington on the trail to a authorities shutdown that can furlough tens of 1000’s of federal employees.
Thune mentioned he expects the votes to occur late Tuesday afternoon however cautioned the time settlement for votes isn’t but “locked in.”
Democrats will convey up their proposal to fund the federal government by Oct. 31, to completely prolong the Inexpensive Care Act’s enhanced medical insurance premium subsidies and to revive practically $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts.
That measure, which wants 60 votes to advance, did not cross by a vote of 47 to 45 when senators voted on it Sept. 19 and a movement to advance it on Tuesday is predicted to fail as effectively.
Thune will then transfer to the Home-passed persevering with decision to fund the federal government by Nov. 21, a simple 24-page decision that Republican leaders are describing as a “clean” stopgap funding measure. That invoice failed by a vote of 44 to 48 on Sept. 19. The movement to advance it on Tuesday virtually definitely received’t get 60 votes.
Senators could then hold the chamber’s ground open till midnight buying and selling last-minute proposals to keep away from a shutdown — proposals that would wish consent from all 100 senators to succeed.
Thune, nonetheless, advised reporters Tuesday morning that he’s not but positive whether or not he would go that route.
“We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes,” he mentioned.
Thune and Schumer have already arrange one other spherical of procedural votes on Wednesday on their dueling proposals to maintain the federal government open, however senators don’t anticipate the outcomes of these votes to be any totally different.
Thune mentioned that the Senate can be out of session on Thursday to look at the Jewish vacation Yom Kippur, however senators anticipate they are going to be again in session on Friday and probably by the weekend to maintain voting on proposals to reopen the federal government.
“We’ll probably set up some votes later in the week but we’ll observe the Jewish holiday,” Thune mentioned.
“I would expect additional votes on opening up the government,” he added shortly after, noting that members will even work by nominations whereas on the town.
Talking on the ground Wednesday morning, the GOP chief made one other pitch for Democrats to vote for the Home-passed persevering with decision.
“We are just 14 hours away from a government shutdown. The House has passed a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution to fund the government until November the 21st. The president is ready to sign it. Senate Democrats are standing in the way,” Thune mentioned.
He identified that Democrats voted for 13 clear persevering with resolutions to fund the federal government — proposals identical to what the Home handed earlier this month — after they managed the White Home and Senate from 2021 by 2024.
That prompted a annoyed rebuttal from Senate Democratic Chief Chuck Schumer (N.Y.).
Grabbing the identical chart that Thune had used as an instance his level, Schumer argued that whereas Democrats repeatedly handed short-term funding payments after they managed the Senate, they at all times allowed Republicans to have enter into the invoice.
“I thank the leader for letting me borrow his chart for a minute. So he’s pointed to each of these bar graphs, percentage of Democratic senators who supported Biden-era CR’s. Yes, that’s true,” Schumer acknowledged. “In each case, Democrats negotiated with Republicans and said, let’s have a bipartisan bill.”
Senators will even have an opportunity to sport out the potential shutdown in the course of the weekly coverage lunches. Leaders are anticipated to handle the media afterwards.
Including one other layer to the shutdown tumult, the Home isn’t anticipated to reconvene till Oct. 7. That signifies that until Senate Democrats make a U-turn and settle for the Home-passed seven-week CR, the federal government would keep shuttered till early subsequent week.
