Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) made Democrats an offer he thought they couldn’t refuse on Thursday, October 16, to end the shutdown. But as it turns out, they could – and did – refuse it. In another bill, Republicans offered payment for troops and other federal workers, but Democrats said it was full of “poison pills.” Now Thune says the White House seems willing to roll back some of the steps it took during the shutdown, so long as Democrats agree to reopen the government. But will they?
An Obamacare Shutdown
Read any left-wing news outlet, and it will tell you the shutdown is all about Obamacare. If Republicans and President Donald Trump would just agree to extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year, then Democrats would agree to pass funding to reopen the government. Is it true? Maybe – but there have been other demands, as well, so perhaps not.
Still, Sen. Thune decided to dangle that carrot Thursday morning, saying that once the shutdown is over, he’ll call a vote on a bill to extend the ACA subsidies. He just needs another five to side with the GOP and those already backing the stopgap funding bill to keep the government rolling through November 21. How’s that for an offer Democrats can’t refuse? Not a very good one, apparently.
“I trust no Republican’s word as long as Donald Trump is saying he refuses to extend health care tax subsidies,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters. “As much as I respect Leader Thune, he can’t vouch for the House or the White House.”
And, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stands his ground on not passing a new resolution and as the president sticks to his position on the issue, that seems to be a sticking point for many Democrats.
“When the shutdown was just starting, we requested that,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) told MSNBC on Thursday. “That’s been almost three weeks ago, and they wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t do it, wouldn’t do it. And now he has moved but everybody else has moved, too.”
So much for that carrot.
White House Flexibility, Senate Stiffness
Sen. Thune also vaguely suggested on Thursday that the president might be willing to roll back some of his administration’s actions during the shutdown. When asked what, specifically, he thought the president might be willing to walk back, Thune admitted he didn’t know – but he did say some furloughed or unpaid federal workers could get their jobs back.
In the House, however, some Democrats now demand the administration undo the entire mass firing as a condition to ending the shutdown – an ask that will almost certainly be rejected as simply too much. Also too much, apparently, was the GOP bill, already passed by the House, to keep the military funded through the shutdown.
As Sen. Blumenthal put it, “I will vote yes on a military appropriations bill to pay our men and women in uniform, but if it has all of the House poison pills, no.” The House-approved bill would fund the military through the shutdown, but it also ends assistance to Ukraine, reduces vaccine requirements, and limits service members’ access to abortions. To the left, those are poison pills, one and all – and the vote failed 50-44 on Thursday, with three Democrats joining most (but not all) Republicans on the “aye” side.
As the shutdown wears on, Republicans seem more inclined to offer – or, at least, dangle as bait – concessions to the left. But Democrats seem to be sticking to that all-or-nothing position. And as America waits to see who wins this nationwide game of congressional chicken, the list of consequences grows. Should the shutdown extend into November, for example, the US Department of Agriculture has announced it will cease funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), long known as Food Stamps to many.
How long until one side buckles – and what price will Americans have to pay for it?
