“Well, the shutdown melodrama continues.”
That’s how Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy summed up the third day of the US government shutdown, verbally equivalent to a sigh.
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On Friday, the US Senate re-ralled before the weekend break and voted again on an ongoing resolution that funds the government until November 21st.
Republicans have promoted the resolution as a “clean” budget bill and are keeping the status quo. But Democrats say they refuse to consider bills that don’t take into account healthcare costs.
By the end of the year, subsidies under the Affordable Care Act are expected to expire, and premiums are expected to surge for many Americans. And Democrats called on Republicans to reconsider cutting back to Medicaid, a government insurance program for low-income households.
However, the outcome was Capitol Hill’s deadlock, with the parties exchanging liability and no solution in sight. The frustration was visible on both sides.
“This shutdown is deep and stupid, from Marrow,” Kennedy said from the Senate floor.
On the fourth time on Friday, Democrats rejected Republican proposals, previously passing the House along party lines.
Only three senators have split from the party’s caucus. Catherine Cortez Mast of Nevada, Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and King Independent Angus of Maine.
On the Republican side, Sen. Rand Paul also refused to vote with members of his party. His concern, he said, is how spending will contribute to federal debt.
The result was 54-44 votes for 100-seat senators, far below the 60 votes needed to overcome the Democratic filibuster to take the bill.
As opponents, Democrats have introduced a bill that looks at more than $1 trillion to healthcare expenses. But it was too flounder in the Senate vote.
Pointing to Capitol Hill
In a subsequent press conference, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that deadlocks can only be broken if Republicans change their tactics and negotiate healthcare issues.
“Today, we saw Republicans running the same play and they got the same results. The question is, will they change course?” he told reporters.
Schumer accused Republicans of “wasteful a week” with four votes that ended with the same result.
“My caucus and Democrats have asserted that we must protect American healthcare,” he said. “Instead of coming to the table and negotiating with Democrats and trying to reopen the government, the White House and fellow Republicans have vowed to make this a ‘big pain’ shutdown. ”
Meanwhile, Republican leaders accused Democrats of trying to stop the process rather than proceeding with the status quo.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also argued that programs like Medicaid are in desperate need of reform.
“Medicaid is full of fraud and abuse, so we reformed it. Why? To help Americans provide better health services,” he said at a press conference. “We had a lot of people in Medicaid and we didn’t intend to be there.”
Johnson accused Schumer of trying to appeal to the progressive chapter of the Democratic Party in anticipation of the 2028 Senate primary. “He has to show he’s fighting Republicans.”
However, both sides of the aisle expressed sympathy for federal workers who were caught in the middle of the closure.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that close to 750,000 people face Farrow daily with the closure continuing. Others need to continue working unpaid.
According to statistics from the Office of Budget, total compensation for Furloughed employees is around $400 million per day. Thanks to the 2019 law, the Fair Treatment of Government Employees, federal employees will ultimately receive backpay, but only after the closure ends.
Pressure Tactics
Johnson issued a notice Friday afternoon that the House would not return to the session until October 14th, to force Democrats to pass the ongoing resolution.
Instead, his memo called on officials to engage in a “district work period” away from the US capital.
The announcement was designed to put pressure on the Senate to act on an ongoing resolution already passed by the House of Representatives. Before Johnson’s announcement, the House was expected to resume work at the Capitol on October 7th.
Meanwhile, Senate majority leader John Tune is willing to weigh Democrats’ concerns about healthcare, but only after the government resumed.
Still, he did not guarantee that expired healthcare subsidies would be reclaimed once Democrats were tolerated.
“We can’t make a commitment or commitment about Covid’s grants because it can’t guarantee that there’s a vote there. But what I said is that we’re open to talking to our Democrat colleagues about how we can address that issue,” Thune said.
“But that can’t happen while the government is closed.”
Meanwhile, Republican President Donald Trump threatened to use the closure as an opportunity to cut federal workers and cut programs that benefit Democrats.
Already this week, his administration has said it has shut down $18 billion on New York City infrastructure projects, including the tunnels below the Hudson River, and about $8 billion on the Clean Energy Initiative.
But on Friday, Trump’s director of the U.S. Management and Budget Office, Russ Vert announced another major city will be targeted for cuts in Chicago, Illinois.
Two Chicago infrastructure projects worth $2.1 billion have been posted on social media that “were pending funds not flowing through race-based contracts.”
In a subsequent news briefing, White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt said cuts to the federal workforce are also underway, and meetings with agency leaders will discuss the layoffs.
“Maybe this government shutdown can be over if the Democrats do the right thing. Our troops can get paid again. We can go back to doing American people’s business,” Leavitt said.
“But if this shutdown continues, like we said, the layoff is the unfortunate outcome.”
But Democrat leaders have dismissed these threats as pressure tactics aimed at distracting healthcare critical issues.
In his remarks, Schumer argued that health care is a top priority for Republican districts as well, and that Republican leaders should respond accordingly.
“It’s easy,” Schumer said. “They can resume government and at the same time make healthcare for people more affordable.”
