No immediate end in sight to government shutdown

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(The Center Square) – Congress had the chance late Wednesday morning to reopen the U.S. government before any federal furloughs took effect. 

Democratic senators, however, once again failed to provide the necessary votes to advance Republicans’ House-passed stopgap, sentencing hundreds of thousands of government employees to unpaid leave until at least Friday.

“This could have been avoided,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. “Everybody’s now asking the question, how does this end? Well, it ends when the Senate Democrats pick this bill up – passed by the House of Representatives – and vote for it.”

Republicans’ Continuing Resolution would merely extend government funding for seven more weeks, buying time for lawmakers to finish properly funding the federal government through the 12 annual appropriations bills.

But Democrats argued this proposal would “gut” health care because it fails to address the expiring COVID-19 era enhanced Obamacare Premium Tax Credits. Their counterproposal includes a permanent extension of the enhanced PTC and other partisan riders, costing up to $1.4 trillion. 

The Wednesday morning votes on both CRs mark the third time that both bills tanked, and due to the upcoming Yom Kippur holiday, another vote won’t be scheduled until Friday. 

“We need a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to reopen the government. And once we do that, then we can talk about the issues that Democrats are raising,” Thune told senators on the floor. “But we’re not going to engage in bipartisan discussions while Democrats are holding the federal government hostage to their partisan demands.”

Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., countered that Republicans are misrepresenting Democrats’ concerns and making light of “really serious issues.”

“How are we supposed to negotiate with Republican leaders when they are refusing to work on a bipartisan path out and just keep making up lies about our Democratic proposal?” Murray argued.

The longer a government shutdown drags, the more Americans will feel the effects of shuttered federal services. The Trump administration is also planning to eliminate some federal positions vacated during a shutdown that are not aligned with its goals, as consistent with applicable law.