The US Senate remained deadlocked on legislation to end the government shutdown on Thursday, as Donald Trump reiterated his threat to make Democrats pay for the funding lapse that has closed federal agencies and furloughed workers nationwide.
The Senate took its seventh round of votes on competing Democratic and Republican proposals to restart the funding, but neither won enough bipartisan support to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the chamber. In a sign that neither party had budged from its demands, no senators changed their votes from when the bills were last considered in recent days.
Government funding lapsed last Wednesday, and Republicans are insisting Senate Democrats approve a bill to continue operations through 21 November, which has already cleared the House of Representatives. But Democrats say any government funding deal must be paired with an extension of premium tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which expire at the end of the year.
They are also demanding that funding for public media outlets be restored and cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans are reversed.
Congress’s Republican leaders have refused to negotiate over their demands until the government is reopened, and during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Trump repeated his threat to single out Democratic-led states and cities for retaliation, if their lawmakers do not back down.
“We will be making cuts that will be permanent, and we’re only going to cut Democrat programs, I hate to tell you,” he said. “So they will get a little taste of their own medicine.”
The Senate’s top Democrat Chuck Schumer projected confidence in the party’s strategy, telling Punchbowl News: “Every day gets better for us.”
Republicans seized on that remark as evidence that the minority party is careless of the economic impacts of the shutdown. Federal workers are expected to miss a paycheck next week if funding is not restarted in the coming days.
“It’s so stunning to me how callous he can be to play political games and use American citizens as the pawns in a political game,” Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference.
The White House office of management and budget has cancelled federal funding for projects in several Democratic-led jurisdictions since the shutdown started, but does not yet appear to have followed through on its threat to carry out mass firings of government workers.
In a bid to convince Senate Democrats to drop their demands, Johnson has kept the House of Representatives out of session since the shutdown began, since any compromise bill would need his chamber’s approval. He signaled he would extend the recess into next week if funding was not restored.
“Is it better for them, probably to be physically separated right now? Yeah, probably is,” he said, referring to House lawmakers.
