US Lurches Toward Shutdown as Senate Democrats Block GOP Stopgap

Congress moved closer to an Oct. 1 government shutdown as Senate Democrats and Republicans on Friday each blocked the other party’s rival plans to provide temporary funding.

Democrats are demanding a boost to health care spending while Republicans refuse to go along and back a simple bill to keep the lights on through Nov. 21.

Resolving the conflict is complicated by the Senate’s plan to take a week-long break as the Oct. 1 funding lapse nears. The Senate could return to Washington as late as Sept. 29. The House plans to stay on recess until after Oct. 1.

Republican leaders hope Democrats will drop their demands and concede as the deadline nears rather than risk blame for a disruption in government services.

“The choice is pretty clear,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said just before the vote. “It’s going to be funding the government through a clean, short-term continuing resolution or it’s going to be a government shutdown. That’s the choice Democrats have.”

The Republican interim funding plan garnered 44 votes, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural obstacles in the Senate.

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer put forward a rival plan to finance the government through Oct. 31 and that failed on a 47 to 45 vote. Thune called the proposal “unserious” in urging his members to unite in opposing it.

The $1.5 trillion Democratic measure would spend $350 billion to extend permanently expiring Obamacare tax subsidies for the middle-class and would reverse a nearly $1 trillion cut to Medicaid spending enacted by Republicans as part of President Donald Trump’s tax legislation this summer.

The rejected Democratic package would also reverse cutbacks in medical research, restore money for NPR and PBS and prevent the White House from unilaterally refusing to spend appropriated funds.

Trump urged Republican lawmakers to unite behind the GOP stopgap, known as a continuing resolution, which keeps funding at Biden-era levels, in order to thwart the attempt by Democrats to increase spending on health care.

Schumer argued that a battle over the subsidies was needed now given that insurers will send out premium increase notices Nov. 1. Thune has said he would “look at” the Obamacare issue later in the year but not in the context of a short-term spending bill.

“Americans will see the glaring contrast between the Republican plan continuing the status quo of Donald Trump’s health-care cuts and high costs and the Democratic plan to avoid a shutdown while lowering premiums, fixing Medicaid, and protecting funds for scientific and medical research,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor.

Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman was the lone minority party member to vote for the GOP bill. Two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted no.

Democrats, unable to slow Trump’s agenda or even garner much media attention for their efforts, are under increasing pressure to risk a shutdown. Schumer in March backed off from a similar threat and allowed 10 Democrats to vote for a temporary spending bill. He is taking a tougher line this time, even as some of the same 10 senators refuse to say how they will vote in the end.

Read More: US Shutdown Risks Rise as Democrats Dig In on Health-Care Fixes

House Speaker Mike Johnson said there was “zero” chance Republicans would repeal elements of their signature tax overhaul, but has hinted at a negotiation on Obamacare subsidies could take place before the end of the year. Twelve swing district House Republicans have signed onto a plan to extend the subsidies for one year and moderate Senate Republicans are engaged in back-room talks about a possible bill.

Murkowski said she wants to see a two year Obamacare extension.

Johnson and other top Republicans have indicated they want tighter income limits and fraud controls if any version of the Obamacare subsides are to be extended. For now they say they will not entertain them in a stopgap bill.

Read More: House Passes GOP Funding Bill, Sets Up Senate Shutdown Showdown

The House approved the GOP stopgap spending bill after Johnson overcame grumbling from some fellow Republicans. Only one House Democrats voted for the bill.

The Republican measure contains a handful of policy changes including a boost to security funds for lawmakers and federal officials and a provision allowing the District of Columbia to spend its own tax dollars in the next fiscal year.

Johnson was able to win over some conservatives — deeply concerned over their own safety after the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk — by promises to provide more money for their personal security later this year.

A stopgap bill is necessary to keep government agencies running after the end of the month because Congress has, as has become its habit, failed to pass any of the annual appropriations bills on time.

(Updates with details on how senators voted, starting in 13th paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Megan Scully at mscully32@bloomberg.net

John Harney, Mike Dorning

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