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Senate Republicans are looking to turn the heat up on Democrats with a planned vote to pay military members and essential workers, a move they hope will drive a wedge within the minority and lead to an end to the government shutdown.
Although few believe the measure will pass, Republicans hope it exposes further cracks in the Democratic opposition.
“It’s a hard vote for them,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a top ally to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.). “If you pay the essential employees, you’re basically opening up a good chunk of the government back up.”
“It should be a no-brainer, right?” Thune quipped to The Hill with a laugh about the upcoming vote.
“This is paying everyone that’s working. I haven’t been able to explain a lot of this, so far, why they would take a position against, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed,” he continued. “It’s a constituency that Democrats have historically been very sympathetic to. This is a whole different approach on their part, with regard to a shutdown. It’s strange to me. I feel like they can’t take ‘yes’ for an answer at the moment. Hopefully on Thursday, they’ll take ‘yes.’”
The Senate has voted 11 times on the House GOP measure to fund the government, with a 12th set for Wednesday. There have been no major changes in the vote breakdown, with Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) largely backing Republicans and the GOP measure.
Democrats are demanding an extension of subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year, and that are likely to make millions of people’s health care more expensive. Republicans have been firm in arguing they will not offer such a concession to open the government.
Even some Democrats have acknowledged that the coming vote is a difficult one.
“We go through this every time there’s a shutdown,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). “That’s going to be a test, a real challenge to us.”
“We’ve got to move beyond [zero negotiations]. Both sides have to sit down and work this out,” he continued, saying he wasn’t at the point where he would support the bill on Thursday. “I can tell you it reaches a point where the only solution is obvious. … Both sides sitting at a table and working it out.”
There was a smidge of movement late last week when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) sided with the GOP on a procedural vote aimed at passing the annual defense appropriations bill.
But a number of Democrats have expressed concerns with the bill on pay, including that it would hand Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought more say in who gets paid and who doesn’t across the federal workforce.
“I’m digging into the question of: Does it just give Donald Trump the ability to decide who he wants to pay and not [get paid]?” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who represents scores of federal workers. “I would like federal employees to get paid. I don’t want to let Donald Trump decide which federal employees get paid.”
Democrats are expected to offer up an alternative measure ahead of the vote. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) are cobbling together a bill that would pay all federal workers instead of just those who are remaining on the job during the government closure.
“No federal worker should be punished for a shutdown they had nothing to do it,” Van Hollen told reporters. “We’re working on it as we speak.”
It is unclear whether they will have a vote on the bill, as Democrats had previously gotten on their proposed continuing resolution that was voted on alongside the House-passed package.
If there is not a vote, Van Hollen said “it’ll just show they’re not serious.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday told reporters that he and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reached out to the White House to seek a second meeting with President Trump.
Democrats have considered Trump the key piece on the GOP’s chessboard toward breaking the impasse as Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have shown zero willingness to find a resolution on the health care issue.
“Hakeem and I reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the health care crisis, address it and end the Trump shutdown. Things get worse every day for the American people. He should sit down with us, negotiate with us in a serious way before he goes away,” Schumer told reporters, referring to Trump’s upcoming trip to Asia. “We said we’ll set up an appointment with him anytime, anyplace before he leaves.”
Thune appeared unbowed when asked on Tuesday if it’s time to shift to a secondary strategy as Democrats have repeatedly voted against the House GOP funding measure.
“Plan B is open up the government,” Thune told CNN. “The middle ground is what we talk about after we open up the government.”
Schumer retorted that his caucus is “resolute” in their opposition, citing the premium increases families are facing ahead of the start of open enrollment on Nov. 1. In the eyes of the Democratic leader, those prices will only turn the heat up on Republicans, especially as more states formally unveil health care premium prices in the coming days.
But for the GOP, they view the Thursday bill as a winner no matter how you slice it.
“I assume they’re patriotic Americans, but it seems pretty heartless to deny the military and their pay while expecting them to defend the nation,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). “I just think it further demonstrates the absurdity of their position.”
