8th Bid to End Gov Shutdown Fails in Senate

“I guess Democrats are not going to be satisfied until military families and government workers are lining up at food banks or visiting payday lenders or simply charging necessary items like milk and bread on their credit cards to be repaid late,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the floor before the vote, lambasting a report that Democrats are willing to allow the shutdown to go on for “several more weeks.”

“But, hey, while military families and government workers may be deeply stressed, at least life is getting better every day for Senate Democrats,” he continued, referring to a comment Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made last week about Democrats’ political fortunes amid the impasse.

That has not happened, though, leading Democrats to argue that the repeated failed votes being held by the majority party should be an impetus for the two sides to hammer out a deal on the subsidies.

“That means, like it or not, the Republican leader needs to work with Democrats in a bipartisan way to reopen the government, just as we did when we passed 13 CR’s [continuing resolutions] when I was majority leader,” Schumer said.

“The ACA premium crisis is not a fix-it-later issue, but rather a fix-it-now issue,” he continued. “Republicans may think they can dig in until the next Ice Age, but a fork in the road is coming their way whether they like it or not.”