For the first time in nearly 40 days, senators made a rare Saturday appearance at the Capitol, as the GOP and Democrats work to end a government shutdown that has broken records and disrupted the lives of both federal workers and ordinary Americans. The move comes one day after President Donald Trump urged the lawmakers not to leave town until they end the shutdown.
On Friday, Senate Democrats proposed a new deal to their GOP colleagues, announcing they’ll immediately vote to reopen the government in exchange for a one-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax subsidies. The proposal is being sold as a compromise, though Republicans were quick to admonish it.
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Senate GOP calls Dem proposal a ‘nonstarter’
In a speech on the Senate floor Friday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “Democrats would like to see an end to this shutdown, and we want to respect Leader [John] Thune’s desire not to negotiate on ACA until after the government reopens. Therefore, we’d like to offer a simple proposal that would reopen the government and extend the ACA premium tax credits simultaneously.”
However, on Saturday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called his Democratic counterpart’s proposal a “nonstarter.”
“There’s still only one path out,” Thune said. “It’s a clean funding extension. The House has already passed a clean funding extension. The president supports one and would sign it into law immediately.”
In response, Schumer said that the Democrats’ proposal does nothing more than maintain current funding levels.
“I know many Republicans stormed out the gate to dismiss this offer, but that’s a terrible mistake,” Schumer said. “Our offer is not a new policy. This is not negotiating in a shutdown. It’s simply agreeing to maintain current funding levels.”
Now in its 39th day, the Democrats have maintained that they won’t vote on a funding package unless it includes an extension of the ACA subsidies, arguing that a lapse in the subsidies would cause premiums to skyrocket. Republicans, meanwhile, have said they’re not opposed to voting on a subsidy extension, but only after the government is fully funded and reopened.
Trump proposes direct payments
Trump lambasted the ACA –– otherwise known as Obamacare –– on Truth Social Saturday, calling it “the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World.” Rather than fund the subsidies, he proposed sending money directly to the American people.
“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” Trump wrote on Saturday morning. “In other words, take from the BIG, BAD Insurance Companies, give it to the people, and terminate, per Dollar spent, the worst Healthcare anywhere in the World, ObamaCare.”
It’s unclear whether Trump’s idea of sending insurance money to Americans will carry any weight with his party’s leadership. Thune on Saturday acknowledged the proposal, saying, “it is a discussion that the president and all of us want to have.” However, he stopped short of saying it would inform GOP negotiations to end the shutdown.
Thune also said he intends to keep the Senate in session until a deal is reached, adding that he would like to get it done on Saturday. But language on Capitol Hill leaves little room for optimism.
“There is a better way. We’re gonna insist on that better way, and to my Democratic friends, we’re not going to extend this program for a year because that would be unfair to the taxpayer,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said.
