Congressional News

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Government shutdown impasse
stretches on as Senate Republicans reject Democrats’ health care offer

What to know on Day 39 of the government shutdown:

  • Senate Democrats offered on Friday to end the government shutdown in exchange for a one-year extension of health care tax credits and a plan to continue broader talks, a proposal that was swiftly rejected by Republicans, who grew increasingly frustrated with their colleagues over the course of the day.
  • Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out the Democratic proposal on the Senate floor in the afternoon. He said Democrats would back a bill to quickly reopen the government if it included the one-year extension of tax credits to bring down the cost of health insurance premiums.
  • GOP senators rejected the offer out of hand. Majority Leader John Thune told CBS News it was a “nonstarter” that “doesn’t even get close.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called it “terrible” and “political terrorism.”
  • The path forward in the Senate remains unclear. The chamber blocked a GOP bill that would pay federal workers during the funding lapse on Friday. Democrats blocked quick consideration of the measure earlier in the day, contributing to the tensions between the two sides.
  • Thune said the Senate is likely to work through the weekend, but he has not scheduled a 15th vote on the House-passed continuing resolution. That vote is seen as the key to unlocking a deal put forward by Republicans that would tie an extension of government funding to a trio of longer-term appropriations bills.
  • Separately the Supreme Court stepped in late Friday and temporarily froze a court order requiring the Trump administration to provide full food benefits for the month of November, rather than the partial payments that the administration plans on sending.