BREAKING: Dems Lastly Come To The Desk In Main Shutdown Growth
Senate Democrats rolled out their counteroffer Friday to the GOP’s plan to reopen the government, pushing a one-year extension of Obamacare tax credits and daring Republicans to “just say yes.”
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made his pitch with the full Democratic caucus standing behind him in a choreographed show of unity. “It’s clear we need to try something different,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
The Democrats’ offer would extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies for another year and create a bipartisan committee to hash out the issue once the government is back open, an olive branch aimed squarely at Republicans’ insistence that negotiations only happen after reopening.
“Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes healthcare affordability,” Schumer said. “Leader Thune just needs to add a clean, one-year extension of the [Obamacare] tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs. That’s not a negotiation. It’s an extension of current law, something we do all the time around here.”
“Now the ball is in the Republicans’ court,” he added. “We need Republicans to just say ‘yes.’”
Senator John Thune (R-SD)
But whether Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will bite remains an open question. The GOP huddled Friday to consider the Democrats’ proposal after Thune scrapped his earlier plan to amend the House-passed bill and attach a package of three spending measures — a so-called “minibus” — to restart funding talks. “The wheels came off” those discussions, Thune admitted earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, tempers flared after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., tried to fast-track his bill guaranteeing pay for federal workers and the military during shutdowns. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., blocked the effort — even after Johnson amended the bill to include furloughed workers — arguing it gave President Donald Trump too much discretion to decide “which federal employees are paid and when.”
That move set Thune off. “In other words, we’re going to keep federal employees hostage,” the South Dakota Republican fumed. “It’s about leverage isn’t it, that’s what ya’ll have been saying.”
With no deal in sight, the Senate left town for the weekend — and the government stayed dark.
Download the FREE Trending Politics App to get the latest news FIRST >>