5th Bid to End Gov Shutdown Fails in Senate

The Senate on Monday pushed the government shutdown to the one-week mark as Democrats blocked the GOP’s “clean” stopgap funding bill from advancing for a fifth time.

Senators voted 52-42 on the House-passed bill, which needed 60 votes to advance and would have funded the government at Biden-era spending levels until late November. The tally has remained virtually unchanged, other than absences, since the shutdown started last Wednesday.

The trio of Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) crossed over to vote with Republicans, just as they did three times last week. But no other Democrats joined them, leaving the majority party frustrated that it has been unable to win over more votes.

Democrats are demanding the stopgap bill include an extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits that are slated to expire at the end of the year.

The vote marks the latest sign of stalemate between the two sides. While rank-and-file lawmakers have met at times over the past week to ponder a pathway forward, Thune has made clear he has no reason to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at this point.

With little action, Democrats have grown particularly keen on the idea of making President Trump take a more active role in discussions, especially as Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have shown little willingness to back off their positions.